Raise the White Flag in Ascot’s Mares’ Hurdle for pick of this Weekend’s tips

The show is well and truly back on the road and isn’t life better for it?

Punters have finally got some proper winter sport to get their teeth into, Lord Culcheth has mysteriously disappeared to Berlin pursuing some hairy German cougar, the excellent Timmy Murphy has his thousand winners plaudits safely in the bag courtesy of a Taunton double, Cheltenham is just six and half weeks away, and a hero of Cheltenham’s past bounced back to remind us of former glories as 2006 Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition took the Galmoy Hurlde in some style at Gowran Park on Thursday.

Looking ahead to this weekend Jump racing afficionados will be licking their lips in the style of Preston carpet baron Bernard Dorsett (fans of cult C4 show Come Dine With Me will know exactly who I’m referring to), and understandably so.

In the Grade 2 Mares’ Hurlde over 3m at Ascot tomorrow afternoon I fully expect Donald McCain’s Whiteoak to stamp her class on proceedings after proving beyond doubt she stays the trip when hacking up at Kempton in November.

She does have to concede 5lb all round here, but I just cannot see that being a barrier to her getting her nose back in front.

Really bad ground might change the complexion of things, but the forecast soft will be no problem whatsoever to this classy filly, and she can live right up to her rating of 150.

A winner on her only previous Ascot outing a couple of seasons back, McCain thought so highly of her he allowed Whiteoak to take on all and sundry in the Champion Hurdle back in March, side-stepping the David Nicholson girls only contest (which she won in 2008), and in which she surely would’ve provided stiff opposition for an inspired Quevega in 2009.

As it was she ran a respectable race in the Champion, but her effort when stepped up in trip to an extended 3m at Kempton really caught the eye, winning as she pleased under regular pilot Jason Maguire to see of Amber Brook (who re-opposes) by seven lengths.

Connections then opted for an ultra-ambitious tilt at Big Buck’s and co in the re-arranged Long Walk, and it was no surprise to see her soundly beaten there.

Clearly, back against her own sex, this is vastly inferior opposition, and with a nice 25 day gap between races, plus track and conditions to suit she should be backed to win.

Sticking with the Ascot theme, little more than an hour later, a really competitive field of 17 are declared to line up in the Holloway’s Hurdle over an extended 2m 3f.

There’s quite a buzz around for another mare, this one in the shape of Nicky Henderson’s French import Stravinsky Dance who runs in the Waley-Cohen colours with Sam Waley-Cohen doing the steering.

Backed by the right faces for the abandoned Ladbroke just before Christmas she was also a market mover for the Tote Gold Trophy last week, and we may well be about to find out why.

She may well have got in lightly on her British debut with a mark of 138, and although there are many possible answers for this tricky handicap I know the team at Seven Barrows have been well impressed by what she’s shown so far.

The presence of Lough Derg at the top of the handicap compresses the weights beautifully, and with a nice racing weight this could be a happy introduction to English racing for this daughter of Stravinsky, especially as she’ll love the rain softened ground (it’s pouring down at Ascot at the time of writing).

Her March form with a certain Long Run (now in the same ownership, he of the runaway Feltham win) reads well, and she can get her English career off to a flyer.

While she’s winning at Ascot I’ll be paying a visit to the delightful John Lennon airport in Liverpool to make my merry way to Leopardstown for the re-scheduled MCR Hurdle, and it should be pretty straightforward trying to find the winner of that contest with only 30 going to post on ground closely resembling a swamp.

That said one horse who won’t mind the ground and who bounced back to winning ways over course and distance at the December meeting is Edward O’Grady’s Fen Game, a one time John Gosden inmate who ran a most respectable sixth in this race a year ago, and hails from a stable who’ve smacked in 24 winners over hurdles (at a 20% strike rate) this season.

A tongue tie worked the oracle last time out, and O’Grady wisely sticks with it this time as Andrew Lynch takes the leg up on this robust eight year old for the first time.

I won’t be having a huge bet but there’ll be worse 14/1 shots lining up, with Paddy Power the first firm to publish enhanced place terms (1/4 odds 1-2-3-4-5).

Back in England if you’re looking for a bit of easy meat for a yankee or accumulator Donald McCain should also be having a winner in the 2m 5f Novices’ Chase at Wincanton (3.35pm), with yet another mare Double Hit firmly expected to follow up her Leicester victory in what was her first try over the larger obstacles.

Granted she didn’t beat much there, and made one mistake four out (although she still won very easily), and this step up in trip should suit her ideally as she’ll have more time to measure her fences, and with no concerns about the testing conditions at the Somerset venue she can make it two from two.

Lastly, on Sunday don’t miss Solwhit as he lines up as market leader in the Toshiba Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown.

This classy six year old thrives on the heavy ground and is unbeaten at Leopardstown (2/2). He ran on very strongly to see off Sublimity in the December Festival Hurdle last time out, and he can re-enforce his Champion Hurdle claims here.

Paul Nicholls sends the immensely likeable Celestial Halo over to take him on, but he has to bounce back from a defeat and will also have faced a choppy ferry ride across the Irish Sea.

On balance I have to be with Solwhit here.

Good luck!

This weekend’s tips:

2.05 Ascot (Saturday) - 1942 Was A Vintage Year Mares’ Hurdle – 1 Whiteoak (win)

3.05 Leopardstown (Saturday) – MCR Hurdle (Extended H’Cap) – 11 Fen Game (each way)

3.10 Ascot (Saturday) – Best Odds Guaranteed At Victor Chandler Holloway’s Hurdle (Ltd H’Cap) – 11 Stravinsky Dance (win)

3.35 Wincanton (Saturday) – Wincanton Novices’ Chase – 4 Double Hit (win)

2.45 Leopardstown (Sunday) – Toshiba Irish Champion Hurdle – 5 Solwhit (win)