Uttoxeter & Kempton Tips for 16th March 2024

Results for Uttoxeter & Kempton Tips for 16th March 2024

Following another fantastic week at the Cheltenham Festival, Uttoxeter and Kempton are the selected meetings to keep the good times rolling with this week’s Scoop6 bet. No surprise that there’s a dip in quality following the highlight of the jumping season, but the tote has done an excellent job picking a sextet of the most intriguing contests on offer. The big highlight comes at Uttoxeter, with the annual edition of the marathon Midlands Grand National Handicap Chase, which looks as competitive as ever in 2024.

With punters failing to crack the Cheltenham Scoop6 on the opening three days, we could be in for a bumper rollover pool headed into Saturday’s action. As ever, we will throw our hat into the ring with our best bets in each leg in this week’s Scoop6 Racing Tips.

1:50 Never Ordinary At bet365 Handicap Hurdle

Class 3, 2m4f

Uttoxeter
Jagwar
3/1

Uttoxeter hasn’t escaped the rain which battered Cheltenham earlier in the week, leading to heavy ground at the Midlands venue. First up, it’s this competitive handicap featuring a host of unexposed sorts. Emma Lavelle’s Canty Bay (10/3) appeals on his win last time out at Ludlow, but it is off-putting that he was well beaten on his only previous outing on heavy ground. Similar comments apply to One Eye On Vegas (4/1), who won well at Hereford but has been below par in two outings on heavy. Monviel (8/1), meanwhile, does go on heavy ground but is yet to prove he stays this far.

Given the form of the Dan Skelton yard, Santos Blue (9/1) is one of the more appealing each-way options in the race, but we see this going to the Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerreiro-trained Jagwar. Handling heavy ground well when toughing it out in a novice event at Carlisle in February, he has been left unchanged on a mark of 119, and there may well be more to come on only his second start in handicap company.

2:10 Read Nicky Henderson’s Exclusive Blog Handicap Hurdle

Class 2, 2m

Kempton
Boombawn
8/1

Barring a late deluge, the ground looks set to be much better for our two events from Kempton. The first of which is this new handicap over 2m5f. Irish Hill (9/2) heads the betting for champion trainer Paul Nicholls but is hard to trust on recent form, and hasn’t run particularly well in two previous outings here. In contrast, Titan Discovery (5/1) arrives in great heart but is up six pounds for a win in a Class 4 event and will likely need a career best to prevail. Welsh Charger (13/2) brings similar claims to the table but has been hit with an even steeper rise in the handicap and hails from a yard which appears to have gone cold of late.

In a tricky event, the two we like best are Boombawn (8/1) and Kateira (10/1) from the red-hot Dan Skelton operation, with a narrow preference for the former. Jockey bookings would suggest he’s the stable number one, he has a course distance win to his name, and on only his sixth start in a handicap, he remains relatively unexposed in this sphere.

2:25 bet365 Handicap Hurdle

Class 2, 2m7½f

Uttoxeter
Lord Snootie
11/2

Saint Davy (11/2) arrives on a hat trick and is understandably proving popular in the market but is yet to experience heavy ground. Of the others towards the head of the market, Dan Skelton’s Seefin (9/1) and the highly regarded White Rhino (15/2) have fewer questions to answer and are hard to dismiss.

Seefin, in particular, is feared, but the one we like best is Lord Snootie (11/2). Christian Williams has an excellent record in these gruelling staying chases and can land another with this seven-year-old son of Malinas. Unlucky in running when a fast finishing second to Cuthbert Dibble at Haydock in February, the winner gave that form a healthy boost when finishing a fine third in the Pertemps Network Final at the Cheltenham Festival.

2:45 Unibet New And Improved Bet Builder Handicap Chase

Class 2, 2m4½f

Kempton
Flegmatik
11/4

Paul Nicholls landed this with Complete Unknown in 2023 and sends Outlaw Peter (7/2) into battle this time. A winner at the track and over the distance, he has been running consistently well this season and looks fairly handicapped off 135. However, he has failed to convince with his finishing effort in recent outings and may stretched to the limit in a race featuring a number of contenders with form over further.

Found On (6/1) and Fiddlerontheroof (20/1) fall into that category, but the one to be on is Dan Skelton’s Kempton specialist, Flegmatik (11/4). A three-time winner at this track, he mastered Cheltenham Festival scorer Chianti Classico in the most recent of those successes. That came over three miles, but his latest outing over this course and distance resulted in an eight-length romp in February 2022 – with his yard in flying form, he can get on top late in the piece.

3:00 bet365 Midlands Grand National Handicap Chase

Premier Handicap, 4m2f

Uttoxeter
Autonomous Cloud
6/1

Twelve go to post over the marathon 4m2f trip in the feature. As is traditionally the case, Willie Mullins has shipped one over alongside his Cheltenham string for a crack at this prize. Topping the weights and almost topping the betting, Mr Incredible (5/1) carries the Closutton hopes in 2024. He’s capable of going close but has become unreliable in the jumping department, which is enough to put us off at a short price. Iron Bridge (5/1) is more appealing, having finished second in the Welsh Grand National and third in the Haydock Grand National Trial, but we just prefer another.

Fergal O’Brien’s Autonomous Cloud (6/1) has long looked the sort to be suited by this kind of test and has hit the frame in five of six starts over fences – the most impressive of those outings coming when he comfortably landed a three-mile heavy ground event at this track. He bombed out next time in the Welsh National, but having bled from the nose that day, it seems safe to put a line through that effort. Given plenty of time to recover, he goes in the first-time tongue tie here and looks fairly handicapped off 135.

3:35 bet365 Novices’ Handicap Chase

Class 2, 3m

Uttoxeter
Evies Vladimir
5/2

We have more staying handicap action to round out the bet, with a decent case for a few of these. Christopher Wood (14/1) is the outsider of the field, having failed to fire in the Eider Chase but is beginning to look dangerously well-handicapped for Venetia Williams. Marsh Wren boasts more obvious claims, having won at the track in January and landed a Listed event in Ireland last time out. She is, however, saddled with top weight of 12st, which is tough going for a mare in these conditions.

Overall, we feel the market has this right in rating Evies Vladimir as the one they all have to beat. Hailing from the yard of the excellent Gavin Cromwell, he’s a dual winner on heavy ground and was doing his best work late when powering clear at Fairyhouse in February. He wasn’t quite so good on slightly quicker ground at Naas, but the bottomless conditions here look firmly in his favour.