Newbury betting odds: Richard Johnson and Wait for Me to put down a marker
Richard Johnson is taking full advantage of AP McCoy’s retirement this season and he is surely now the champion jockey in waiting. And much deserved too.
In his Betway Insider blog on Monday, he flagged up the chances of WAIT FOR ME in this afternoon’s closing maiden hurdle (3.45pm).
This son of Saint Des Saints ran away with a bumper on his debut at Ascot last February, before running an exceptional race to finish third in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham.
He has reportedly been schooling very well and is the big hope of the Philip Hobbs yard for this season’s major novice hurdles.
Today’s race isn’t going to be a walk in the park, with 17 rivals taking him on, but I expect him to win and put a marker down for later in the campaign.
He’s generally available at 20/1 for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and I will be taking some of that prior to his run this afternoon.
There’s some decent action at Newbury this afternoon and my other selection is UPEPITO in the handicap chase (2.40pm).
Dan Skelton had a big winner for owner Andrew Brooks on Saturday with Baradari in the Fixed Brush Hurdle at Haydock and the duo can strike again.
Upepito ran a cracker on his reappearance at Wetherby before unseating his rider at Aintree last time.
As long as there are no lasting effects from that mishap, he remains dangerously well-handicapped.
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