Big day for the Moore family

It´s a big day for the Moore family today, with Gary Moore´s stable star Sire de Grugy, partnered by eldst son Jamie, attempts to atone for his his rather feeble reappearance last time by winning the 2 mile handicap chase at 16.35 CET at Chepstow. Sire de Grugy won the Champion Chase last year and that is obviously his target again, but needs to brush up on his jumping today to give him the final prep for Cheltenham. It is a bit surprising to see him run in a handicap, but there is nothing much else for him before the Festival and he has to give lumps of weight to his 3 opponents, the best of whom are Far West (Paul Nicholls/Jack Sherwood) and Grey Gold (Richard Lee/ Tom Scudamore), both of whom will fancy their chances at these weights, but Sire de Grugy is the class act here (indeed he is easily the best horse running today) and we hope he wins.

Meanwhile Moore´s second son Ryan return to England for his first rides since October, having in the meantime won top races all over the world. He partners CD specialist Grandeur for Jeremy Noseda in the listed 10 furlongs event at 16.25; the combination won the race last year, and went on to take the valuable Easter Classic, also over this CD. Moore rides Alan Bailey´s Go Far in the other listed race, over 6 furlongs at 14.45, but this one has to improve and we prefer Rivellino (Karl Burke/ Danny Tudhope), just beaten here last year.

The best card of the day is at Kempton with 3 Grade Two races. Ex-German Russian Bolero (David Bridgwater/ Richard Johnson) runs in the Adonis Hurdle for 4yo´s at 15.00; he was a bit of a flop last time, but we still think he has an each-way chance here. The Pendil Novice Chase at 15.35 sees Melodic Rendezvous (Jeremy Scott/ Nick Scholfield) trying to take advantage of the 7 lbs he receives from Gods Own ((Tom George/ Paddy Brennan) and Irish Saint (Nicholls/ Sam Twiston-Davies);he was the best of these over hurdles and every drop of rain that falls will improve his chances. The Dovecote Novice Hurdle at 16.10 shpould lie between Days of Heaven (Nicky Henderson/ Barry Geraghty) and Vago Collonges (Nicholls/ ST-D) with preference for the former, who had won his last 2 races in excellent style.

Kempton - betting forecast:
1. Race: Roc D`apsis - Comeonginger - Polisky
2. Race: Bivouac - Beltor - All Yours
3. Race: God`s Own - Irish Saint - Melodic Rendezvous
4. Race: Days Of Heaven - Vago Collonges - The Grey Taylor
5. Race: Easter Day - Fox Appeal - Le Reve
6. Race: No No Mac - Shammick Boy - Foggy`s Wall
7. Race: Ghost River - Beau Phil - Mr Mountain