By Bill Esdaile
SUNDAY’S Unibet Greatwood Hurdle (3.30pm) is always one of the most competitive handicap hurdles of the entire season and this year’s looks no different with some firms betting 5/1 the field.
Whenever there’s the prospect of a Willie Mullins-trained runner in this country, the market, almost by default, makes it favourite and that’s the case with Onlyamatteroftime.
Given his connections, he could be very well-handicapped off a mark of 115, but you’re putting a lot of faith in Mullins finding a serious amount of improvement given his level of form.
That’s enough to put me off the market leader and I’ll take him on with a couple with more interesting profiles.
I’ll start with L’EAU DU SUD, who looks another textbook Skelton project.
The yard have won this twice in the last seven years, and there aren’t many better trainers at targeting these big handicap hurdles than Dan Skelton.
His charge has only had three starts for the yard, but ran really well in the valuable Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso in March and could be very well-handicapped off a mark of 130.
The other I like the look of is Harry Fry’s GIN COCO.
He was 13 lengths clear of the third when second in the race 12 months ago, and connections will surely have had this in mind for a while.
“He had a run in the Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos last month and that should have brought him forward,” said Grosvenor Sport ambassador Fry. “He seems in good form and I’m hopeful that he can run another big race.”
Gin Coco is only two pounds higher than last year, and he looks a solid each-way bet at around 9/1.
POINTERS
L’Eau Du Sud e/w 3.30pm Cheltenham (Sunday)
Gin Coco e/w 3.30pm Cheltenham (Sunday)
