Alan Kelly’s Tips
Alan heads to Newbury on Monday for his best bet of the day
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Latest Profit & Loss Figures
Not the best of weeks in the lead up to the Christmas period with a loss of -£10.89.
Impose Toi advertised his Stayers Hurdle claims with a victory in Saturday’s Long Walk Hurdle and still looks decent value at the 8/1 currently available with bet365.
Held-up right at the back in a slowly run race, Saturday’s nap Mondo Man was always going to struggle in an effort to make up the ground, but there is a decent handicap to be won with Gary & Josh Moore’s charge this season.
- P/L for the week ending Sunday, 21 December: -£10.89
- P/L for the year 2025 to date: +£45.02
- P/L for the year 2024: +£200.42
- P/L since 1st September 2022: +£531.01
Alan Kelly's Tips - Monday, 29 December
Another cracking day of national hunt action on both sides of the Irish Sea.
We head to the ITV Racing televised card at Newbury for today's selections, the ground currently described as good to soft, the feature race coming at 3:00pm with the Grade 1 Coral Challow Novices Hurdle
1:50pm Newbury - King’s Threshold & Rivers Corner
I find it difficult to split the Emma Lavelle-trained KING'S THRESHOLD and Joe Tizzard’s RIVERS CORNER in this valuable handicap chase named in honour of Fulke Walwyn’s 1962 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, so will back them both at odds of 13/2 and 9/2.
The two finished first and second on this course back in March, Ben Jones’ mount coming out on top by 5 lengths, although Rivers Corner now enjoys a pull of 3lb over this longer trip.The former failed to make an impact in valuable handicaps at Sandown and Cheltenham on his next two starts but performed much better when finishing fourth in the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Memorial Handicap Chase at Newbury last month.
Well-supported for Sandown’s London National earlier this month, Rivers Corner ran a strange sort of race, looking the most likely winner when taking the lead jumping the 13 fence, only to lose his position 2 out before running on again after jumping the last. That was the first try over that marathon trip for Brendan Powell’s mount, who drops back two and a half furlongs and is fancied to go well off his low weight.
Recommendations: King’s Threshold - 13/2 with bet365 & Rivers Corner - 9/2 with bet365
2:22pm Newbury - Jurancon (Each-Way)
With a couple of easy wins under his belt, a Perth maiden and Lingfield handicap, the Olly Murphy-trained Scorpio Rising may be the obvious answer to the outcome of this 15-runner Class 3 handicap. A mark of 121 could still prove on the lenient side for Sean Bowen’s mount, who will be having just his fourth start over hurdles.
I thought Doctors Hill was crying out for a step-up in distance when the Hobbs/White-trained gelding stayed on to finish third on his handicap debut at Wincanton earlier in the month over 1m 7f and should appreciate this extended 2m 4f trip. Chris Gordon’s Andashan and I’m A Lumberjack from the Alan King stable are others with strong claims but the vote goes to David Pipe’s top weight JURANCON (Each-Way).
A well beaten favourite when seventh in a 2m 5f handicap at Cheltenham's Paddy Power Gold Cup meeting, Jack Tudor’s mount is much more at home on a flat track, the six-year-old unbeaten on both starts over hurdles on this course earlier in the year.
Three from 6 over the smaller obstacles, the Pond House inmate opened his account over hurdles at Chepstow last November when beating Fergal O’Brien’s 140-rated Tripoli Flyer by just over a length off level weights. Despite having to concede between 4lb and 23lb to his 14 rivals, Jurancon is more than capable of going close on a course that clearly suits the Brocade Racing-owned contender.
Recommendation: Jurancon (Each-Way) - 12/1 with Coral (4 places)
3:35pm Newbury - Newton Tornado (Nap)
Fresh from her Coral Welsh Grand National victory with Haite Couleurs, trainer Rebecca Curtis has an excellent chance of taking Newbury’s finale with her promising novice chaser NEWTON TORNADO (Nap). The six-year-old opened his account over hurdles at the sixth attempt when winning a Ffos Las maiden back in April before making his debut over fences at Cheltenham six months later.
A well-supported 4/1 chance in what looked to be a seriously competitive novices’ limited handicap, the mount of Ben Jones, fresh from his King George V1 success, was disputing the lead and still to be asked a serious question when falling 4 out. Reappearing at Bangor five weeks later, Newton Tornado made no mistake on his second outing over the bigger obstacles when running out a comfortable 9 length winner.
The Cokoriko gelding, an Irish point-to-point winner, looks the type to make up into a decent chaser and has the potential to prove much better than his current mark of 128. Top weight Guard The Moon made a successful debut over fences at Aintree earlier in the month and can give Newton Tornado most to do, while Nicky Henderson’s Calimystic is worth noting for any market support on his first run over fences.
Recommendation: Newton Tornado (Nap) - 9/4 with bet365
* Betting odds correct at the time of publication. All odds are subject to changes.
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About Alan Kelly
A passionate follower of horse racing for over 50 years, Alan has enjoyed a 40-year career in the betting industry, 28 of which he spent running his betting shop as an owner/manager.
A successful punter with a keen eye for value, Alan has had many betting highlights, including a Scoop 6 win and has shown a consistent profit in the battle with bookmakers since joining Freebets.com in 2008.
You can follow Alan Kelly on Twitter for more racing insight.
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