Racing tips: A winning chase debut is on the cards for Great Samurai

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Tribal Hunter very weak in the market before the off. I think he was misbehaving in the preliminaries and went backwards in the race very quickly. Luna Magic gave it a good go from the front, she just wasn’t good enough on the day.

Hereford 2:25 – Tique 7/4 (1pt Bet365)

For this mares' maiden hurdle, I like the look of Tique.

On all known form this doesn't look like a strong race and I think the time away from the track for Tique will have been good for her. This filly was a decent bumper horse for Seamus Mullins which saw her win one and finish as a runner-up in another from just four runs in that sphere. On hurdles debut, she was the horse who was respected most against the very short-priced favourite, Myrstica. I thought she was doing okay in that race and still going fine until falling and having a nasty landing three from home, which is why I think the 100+ day break that connections have given her was the right thing to do as it would've knocked her confidence for sure.

If that accident isn't playing on her when getting back on the racetrack for the first time since I think she has a very nice chance of winning this. Seamus won this race last year and I believe he has a solid chance of making it a 2nd win in a row in this race.

Hereford 3:35 – Lady Berlais 15/8 (1pt)

With the Skelton's being in tip-top form at the start of the official jumps season I think you can forgive Lady Berlais last time out and the fact that they are sticking her up by nearly 5f from her previous race is very interesting.

This horse was making her stable debut for the Skelton's when being backed into odds-on at Newton Abbot and the performance she put in was far too bad to be true. To see the money arrive like it did was surprising as she was 0/5 when trained by Tom Symonds, so the vibe back at home must've been very strong and in the fashion that she was well ahead of her handicap mark. She might've needed the run, and she might not have liked the soft ground too much that day, it is risky to be backing her on the back of that run but I'll be giving her a chance on the basis there was a lot of money for her last time out on stable debut and now they've opted to move her up to 3m 1.5f on just her second start for the yard.

Dan Skelton has a couple of interesting horses running at Huntingdon so Harry must be going to Hereford for what would be some better rides, he has one in the race I've tipped up before and Lady Berlais. With the form of the yard going as well as it is I think this horse can show what everyone was clearly expecting last time out.

Hereford 4:10 – Hellfire Princess 6/1 (1pt)

Another yard which has started the season very well is the Kerry Lee yard, who is 1/1 in the last fortnight and is 5/9 for the season!

Kerry runs Hellfire Princess at Hereford on Tuesday and she is making her chase debut. This horse has no experience in a PTP field, but it's interesting they are opting for fences at the start of this new season as she is winless over hurdles, so they clearly must believe she is a better chaser than over the smaller obstacles. It's not the easiest race to make a debut in as there is many in this race with plenty of experience but I think most of them have negatives going against them, whether that's the ground, trip or their handicap mark/form, so I'm more than happy to take a chance of this horse on handicap debut, especially with the form of the yard being as strong as it is. Kerry is normally very good at picking out races for her horses, so I have full faith.

Though she has no chase experience in public she does have a nice chasing pedigree with the likes of Kings Ryde and Legends Ryde being half-siblings who were both decent over fences with the latter winning 3 over fences.

Huntingdon 5:35 – Great Samurai 2/1 (1pt)

I mentioned before that Dan Skelton has a couple of interesting runners at Huntingdon so it was surprising to see Harry head to Hereford. I do like the chances of Great Samurai, who is also making his chase debut.

Dan is great with chasers and improving them form being a very average hurdler into a decent horse over fences, so this mark of 105 on handicap & chase debut could be very low compared to this horse's ceiling over fences if he takes to them. I have full faith that this horse will be fine over fences, it's normally a good indicator that they are training well over the fences at home when the trainer is keen to get them over the larger obstacles as soon as they've acquired their handicap mark, and with this being Great Samurai's handicap debut this is the perfect time to send him chasing.

This isn't a strong race to making a chase debut in, some horses arrive in good form but they aren't prolific and are definitely beatable. My main concern would be the fitness of Great Samurai with him not running for 188 days, but this is the risks you take at the start of the season. Tristan Durrell takes the ride in Harry's absence and he rode a brilliant race on Sacre Coeur at Fontwell last week for Dan Skelton, and he also claims 5lb which is always a bonus.

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