Coral Ascot Hurdle 2011

2.50 Ascot

Coral Hurdle (Registered As The Ascot Hurdle) (Grade 2) (Class 1)  (4YO plus)

Winner £50,643

Advice: 4 pts win Oscar Whisky (11/10 general), 1 pt Oscar Whisky to win by under 3 lengths (9/2 Coral)

Oscar Whisky: Developed into a top hurdler last season, winning his first two starts in decent conditions contests before Champion Hurdle third and Aintree Hurdle win, going clear before holding off top class sort in second.

Afsoun: Has been temperamental and inconsistent since his better days and passed over easily.

For Non Stop: Progressive over hurdles, bumping into Grands Crus at Cheltenham before unlucky fall in the last at Coral Cup; Looked like he was set to play a big hand on chase debut and potentially interesting here for a place with most of a run behind him.

Katchit: Never recaptured the form of his champion hurdle win, coming third in the the Cleeve Hurdle although well beaten that day; Might not be the horse of old.

King Of The Night: Showed a lot of promise when bolting up on debut at Cheltenham and ended up going very well when falling back there in Martin Pipe Condtional handicap hurdle; Over the top when next seen at Sandown but bounced back in impressive style on two wins this season and well worth a try in this grade.

Lough Derg: Veteran but still has the ability to go with it as shown when best of rest behind Big Bucks last season and then when running brave race here; Takes more than one run to get going nowadays and outclassed anyway probably.

Orsippus: Third in the Coral Cup last season but that nowhere near the level of slightly fortunate Grade 1 win at Aintree an despite flat return, others better.

 

Overturn: Made a real name for himself in graded company over hurdles last season, coming second in Christmas Hurdle after winning Galway Hurdle; Handicap mark caught uptio him on flat but impressive when winning limited handicap hurdle with plenty to spare from General Miller and should go well here.

VERDICT: Extremely hard to get away from OSCAR WHISKY – who has a two from two first time out record and has only lost two races (both Grade 1) from 9 – despite the big concession of 8lbs to the competitive front runner Overturn and the progressive King Of The Night. Anyone looking for a strong outside chance should turn to For Non Stop, who should go well following a nice pipe opener in which he looked good.