Dubai World Cup - Big Race Preview

Dull To Bring The Pain - US raider Dullahan is fancied for the Dubai World Cup

The Dubai World Cup is a bit of an odd race, it’ the world’s richest horse race yet sometimes there is a distinct lack of strength in depth to the field.

Last year the first two home were horses originally not deemed good enough for the royal blue of Godolphin and both Capponi and Monterosso had spent much of their early careers with Mark Johnston.

Both those two are back again twelve months on, and like last year are pretty much unconsidered for the 2013 running, which could again prove costly to punters.

As always for what is essentially their own race Godolphin have a very strong hand, with the aforementioned two, favourite Hunters Light and African Story they are responsible for almost a third of the field.

America had a great record in this race in the old Nad Al Sheba days when the race was run on the dirt surfaces the American horses are so used to, but they have struggled since the switch to Meydan and the tapeta surface in 2010.

This year they have arguably their strongest hand in a long time though with former Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, dual Breeders’ Cup heroine Royal Delta and the very talented Dullahan forming a three-pronged attack.

Grand National 2013 - Big Race Preview

Cappa-tion Competition - It's deja vu with Cappa Bleu is my Grand National horse

With a little over a week to go and leading protagonists dropping like flies I’ve decided to offer up my take on the Grand National early this year.

The now traditional runner-by-runner guide will be up online once the final field is confirmed but for now with prices changing on a near hourly basis I wanted to crystallise my thoughts and provide an idea of which horses I think will go well in this year’s race.

It’s a really strong looking renewal of the world’s most famous horse race and as always several look to hold live chances. Obviously luck is a massive factor in running but strictly on form and the attributes needed to go well there are many that in my opinion can be overlooked.

Lincoln 2013 - Big Race Preview

Horse Mythology - Nine Realms can land another Lincoln for William Haggas.

Along with the Grand National forming one half of the spring double, the Lincoln traditionally signifies the start of the flat season and the Doncaster feature, like it’s Aintree counterpart, is a notoriously difficult puzzle to solve.

At least with the Grand National you have some sort of form line from the season but given that the Lincoln is the first big race of the flat season it is tricky to know just what sort of form many of the leading protagonists are in with most of the form coming from either the all-weather or last year.

Last year’s winner Brae Hill is back for more but the old adage with this race is to look for the Group performer in a handicap, and I think I may have found just that sort of horse in William Haggas’s Nine Realms.

He’s been well supported at the head of the market for this since the early prices went up and looks to have the right sort of profile for the race.

Ten To Follow - Flat 2013

New Dawn - The unbeaten Dawn Approach is one to follow in 2013

We may be in the midst of Cheltenham and Aintree fever at the minute but it’s now only a few short weeks until the flat season really gets going too.

Last year I put up five horses from the classic generation to follow and I managed to unoriginally offer a 2000 Guineas and Derby winner and a Belmont winner across the pond.

Due to the popularity of my Ten To Follow preview for the jumps season though I decided to go down that route for the 2013 flat turf season too.

Again there’s no points for originality here but these are ten horses that look set to have a great 2013 on the flat, so, in no particular order, my Ten To Follow for the 2013 flat season are as follows:-

1. Dawn Approach – Where else can you start than with the unbeaten European Champion Two Year Old? From the first crop of New Approach colts Dawn Approach was seen out quite early last season, winning on the first day of the Irish turf season at The Curragh.

Festival Focus - The Handicaps

Reporting For Duty - Super Duty looks a major player in the Kim Muir

I falsely claimed at the end of my Gold Cup preview that it would be my last Festival Focus of 2013, however with the release of the handicap weights for the festival this week I’ve been lured in to some ante-post bets on several of the handicap contests throughout the week in spite of vowing not to get involved in them early this year.

My complete run down of the Graded events at the festival can be viewed here but here I plan on having a brief look at my leading fancies in several of the week’s big handicap races.

First up is the JLT Speciality Handicap Chase and having suggested Our Mick as the one to be on in this race at 14/1 in my Gold Cup preview he is now a best priced 8/1 so we’re sitting a little pretty there.