Cheltenham favourites in the spotlight at Haydock

Binocular (Nicky Henderson/ Tony McCoy) and Kauto Star (Paul Nicholls/ Sam Thomas), ante-post favourites for the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup respectively, are the two stars who are expected to dominate proceedings today at Haydock. It will be a major shock is either gets beaten, but the odds in both cases will be extremely short. Kauto Star, attempting to win the Betfair Chase for the third time at 15.15 CET, does at least have a serious rival - Jonjo O´Neill´s Exotic Dancer (Tony McCoy), who was only just beaten in this last year and is the third highest-rated chaser in training. However Exotic Dancer has already met Kauto Star 7 times and finished behind him every time and it is hard to imagine a different result today. Front-runner Ollie Magern (Nigel Twiston-Davies/ David England), well behind Kauto Star in the last 2 runnings of this, should ensure a fair pace and can hang on for third. It is almost impossible to find any opposition to Binocular in the Betfai r Hurdle at 14.40. He has won 3 of his 4 starts in Britain and his only defeat came when 2nd of 22 at the Cheltenham Festival. German-bred Los Nadis (Peter Monteith/ Ryan Mania) is a fair handicapper and can follow him home, many lengths behind. The big betting race at Haydock is the handicap chase over 3 miles at 15.45, part of today´s Scoop 6 bet, and with 16 runners a wide open affair. Paul Nicholls and Sam Thomas have another good chance here with Osako d´Airy, but he, like Gold Medallist (Philipo Hobbs/ Tom O´Brien), is stepping up in trip and not certain to stay the distance. Glasker Mill (Henrietta Knight/ Brian Harding) and Rambling Minster (Keith and James Reveley) can be slighly preferred.

Betting forecast:
1.Race: Font - Doeslessthanme - Bolodenka
2.Race: Star De Mohaison - According To Pete - Leac An Scail
3.Race: Binocular - Los Nadis - Lazy Darren
4.Race: Kauto Star - Exotic Dancer - Cloudy Lane
5.Race: Osako D`Airy - Glasker Mill - Gold Medallist
6.Race: Medicinal - Something Wells - Presenting Copper
7.Race: Saveiro - Steptoe - Mintaka Pass