Time to hit the jackpot at Ascot with Jonjo’s Jipcot
MILLIONS are on offer this weekend.
Quite literally, as Windsor (Friday and Sunday) and Ascot (Saturday) host the inaugural three-day Berkshire Winter Millions Festival with £1.2 million up for grabs.
With a strong card up at Haydock as well, several horses hold multiple entries, so there are some risks with ante-post punting.
First on the list is JIPCOT, who will hopefully be declared for the Holloway’s Handicap Hurdle (2.50pm Saturday) at Ascot, rather than the Stayers’ Hurdle Series Qualifier at Haydock.
He’s a bigger price at 8/1 for the Ascot race, but I think connections are likely to stick to this intermediate trip rather than step up to three miles on heavy ground at Haydock.
When the Megsons moved their horses out of Ben Pauling’s stable, Jipcot, who was third in the Imperial Cup on his final start for the Cotswolds trainer, would have been one of the hardest to wave goodbye to.
And so it has proved, with the six-year-old comfortably landing a handicap at Newbury over Christmas on his third start since moving to Jonjo O’Neill’s.
That was his first go after a wind op, and the resulting eight-pound rise in the handicap may not be enough to stop him going in again.
In the same race, TITAN DISCOVERY looks well overpriced at 40/1.
He’s won a couple of decent handicaps, including at this track, ran second in a hot race at Kempton last spring, and wasn’t disgraced when finishing sixth at Cheltenham in April.
This season, his seventh on reappearance in the Silver Trophy at Chepstow was a decent enough run, and he remains of interest off a pound lower.
Hopefully, those two selections provide some valuable hors d’oeuvres to what is set to be a mouth-watering main course in the Clarence House Chase.
Nicky Henderson’s Jonbon bids to fend off Willie Mullins’ Energumene – just like Shishkin did three years ago.
The bookies are just about with Henderson again for this clash, making Jonbon the 4/6 favourite, but there certainly isn’t much in it, and it’s a race to watch rather than bet on.
Up at Haydock, we’ve got the Peter Marsh Chase (2.30pm), and Royal Pagaille could bid for a hat-trick of wins in the race.
Should he run, Venetia Williams’ charge will be the one to beat as a Haydock specialist, having chalked up five wins from six appearances at the track.
That said, he’ll be running off 3lbs higher than when he last won the Peter Marsh in 2022 and will be giving plenty of weight to some decent horses in the field, so I’m happy to take him on.
The one that catches my eye is TRELAWNE, who looks to hold a strong chance at around the 9/2 mark and will be getting a stone from the likely favourite.
He won well on his seasonal reappearance in a Graduation Chase at this track in November, beating the classy Iroko.
He’s since been stepped up in trip and ran a respectable race in the Howden Silver Cup behind Victtorino.
Any improvement from that run should see him in the mix here. He clearly likes this track and won’t have an issue with the testing ground.
POINTERS SATURDAY
Trelawne 2.30pm Haydock
Jipcot e/w 2.50pm Ascot
Titan Discovery e/w 2.50pm Ascot