Betting Directory’s resident tipster, Tom Lee, is away this week and has left the task of finding a few winners in the trusty hands of the site’s editor, known only as ‘The Bulldog’ to regular readers. So whilst Tom is recovering from a suspected overindulgence of Mixed Shellfish “Royale”, I have been busy studying the form ahead of this weekend’s action and Saturday’s Sandown card looks to present a couple of excellent opportunities to get amongst the winners.

The Toteswinger Challengers Novices Chase at 2:35 looks like the perfect opportunity for the Nicky Henderson trained Punchestowns to continue his preparations ahead of the Cheltenham Festival next month. Making only his second start over fences, he is likely to be a short price to follow up his impressive debut win back in November. However, readers who followed Tom’s advice and backed him for the Royal and Sun Alliance Chase at 7/1 ahead of that seven length Newbury success may wish to tune in to channel four on Saturday afternoon and hope that another win will see the current odds of 7/2 shorten further and increase the value of their antepost voucher.

In the 3:10 at Sandown, it is another Nicky Henderson runner in the form of Strawberry, who I expect to run a big race in the Totescoop6 Heroes Handicap Hurdle. This mare made an impressive return to Hurdles when landing a Grade Two at Kempton over Christmas and despite disappointing when pulled up in her latest outing at Ascot a couple of weeks ago she is worth a second chance off a mark of 140 on favoured soft going.

Up at Doncaster, the feature race of the day at Town Moor is the 3:25 Blue Square Handicap Chase in which Kalahari King can defy top weight to win this competitive looking race. The Ferdy Murphy trained nine year old looks fairly treated on what he achieved last season in events better than Saturday’s race, most notably when a short head second to Forpadydeplasterer in the Arkle at Cheltenham and a demolition job in the Grade One Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree. This will be his first run since last April and whilst there is the obvious question mark to answer regarding fitness, he is proven to go well fresh, winning three of his past five season reappearances on varying going. He is also sure to have his work cut out to concede weight to several useful rivals but eight of the past ten winners of this race have carried in excess of 11stone to victory and given his proven ability he looks like taking a chance with at 10/1 with Bet365 or Paddypower.

On Sunday, over in Ireland, there is an excellent card at Leopardstown where the feature race is the Hennessy Gold Cup. However, it is likely that most of the attention will be on 2:10, Deloitte Novice Hurdle, where the exciting Dunguib will make his final preparations before heading to Cheltenham but at odds of 1/3, he is best left but the 2:40, the Dr P.J. Moriarty Novice Chase, does present the opportunity for a bet in the form of Roberto Goldback. The Jessica Harrington trained runner has shown signs of making real progress in his last two runs and it would appear that the penny may have finally dropped following the transition from Hurdles to fences. Winning easily over Sunday’s course and distance last time out, it would be surprising not to see this lightly raced eight year old kick on once again and looks a solid option at 5/2 with Ladbrokes. He also hold an entry for the Arkle Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, for which he is currently a 33/1 with most bookmakers.

Weekend Racing Tips

3:10 Sandown, Saturday – Strawberry to win
3:25 Doncaster, Saturday – Kalahari King to win @ 10/1 with Bet365 or Paddy Power
2:40 Leopardstown, Snday – Roberto Goldback to win @ 5/2 with Ladbrokes