Saturday Six

Our weekly pick of the horses to watch in Ireland and the UK this weekend. And unusually, one of the six to watch is an entire race.

Bobs Worth (Ascot, 1.50)

Following the defection of Last Instalment earlier this week and with ongoing uncertainty over the preferred race for the hugely exciting Grands Crus, the Nicky Henderson-trained Bobs Worth could well go off favourite for the RSA Chase at Cheltenham next month. That will depend upon him winning this Grade 2 Sodexo Prestige Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase, where his rivals include several who are also in the running for the RSA.

Rubi Light (Gowran Park, 2.05)

It may be unfair to look upon races such as the Red Mills Chase as a Cheltenham trial – it’s a valuable €40,000 prize in its own right – but there’s no doubt that Cheltenham will be foremost in the minds of many observers of this race on Saturday. Rubi Light is one of Ireland’s leading fancies for the Ryanair Chase but the Red Mills will test his credentials.

Chicago Grey (Gowran Park, 2.05)

“What? You’re picking two horses to watch in the same race?”

Hold on, hear us out. The Saturday Six is all about horses we want to watch, not necessarily horses we need to invest substantial sums of money on. (Note: for ‘invest’, read ‘lose’.)

So yes, we’re picking two horses in the same race, but for very different reasons. Rubi Light is one of the chief Irish hopes for the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham, but for Chicago Grey the aims are very different. Trainer Gordon Elliott could scarcely keep a lid on his excitement when he heard news earlier this week of Chicago Grey’s weight for the Aintree Grand National. Keep an eye on him here with that race in mind.

He might not win – he may just be a little inferior than horses like Rubi Light and Apt Approach, and he may also have a bit of fitness to work on with Aintree in mind – but a solid run here will leave him at the forefront of the mind for the main event in two months’ time. Chicago Grey is around a 20/1 chance for the big race, but a good performance here and the bookies will be chipping away at that price.

Everyone in the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle (Haydock, 2.10)

So this is even stranger than picking two horses to watch in one race. We’re choosing the entire field in the Grade 2 three-mile novice hurdle event at Haydock, which not so coincidentally is called exactly the same name as the big race at Cheltenham in a few weeks’ time.

Virtually every one of the field will also be in contention in the main event on March 16, so there could be a big shake-up in the betting for that race depending on events here. The one we like is Real Milan, but then we’re suckers for both Donald McCain and horses from the Milan family.

Medermit (Ascot, 3.00)

Riverside Theatre has been the buzz horse for this race over the past few days, with Nicky Henderson’s promising chaser making his comeback after 12 months off the track. He’s been installed as the favourite but we’d rather watch his return without investing any of the hard-earned. The Saturday Six was never meant as a tipping column but we might have a play on Medermit, who at the time of writing is twice the price of Rirverside Theatre at around 9/2 and that looks decent value in a below-par Grade 1.

Alan King’s star has been in solid form this season, winning the valuable Haldon Gold Cup handicap at Exeter, finishing behind Master Minded and Somersby in a Grade 2 (that form looks good following Somersby’s subsequent runs in the King George and Victor Chandler Chase) and then being pipped in another prestigious handicap off a big weight.

Some Target (Haydock, 3.20)

Willie Mullins has 12 entries in the Aintree Grand National – so it will be very revealing to see how Some Target gets on in Haydock’s Betfred Grand National trial. The eight-year-old is rated by the bookmakers to be around about Mullins’s eighth-best chance in the race, so if he delivers a good performance here it would surely result in a shortening of the odds for some of Mullins’s bigger hitters, such as On His Own, The Midnight Club and Quel Esprit.