BEST of the BETS

FRASER ISLAND has disappointed a couple of times now, finishing towards the back in the Fred Winter at the festival and then same again at Chepstow on his return, but he is 6 lbs lower than Cheltenham run now, and he has had only 5 hurdles runs so maybe too soon to write him off.

Nicky Henderson has a good record in this race with 2 wins from just 4 runners and he also had 20/1 3rd (of 13) in this last year. It looks a tough race though, and 4 year olds don’t have a good record in this, only one 4yo winner (from 11 runners, all bar one went off at 12/1 or shorter) in 7 runnings of this. But that one winner was the Henderson-trained Bivouac in 2015 (note: this race was run over further at that time), who had a very similar preparation to Fraser Island. Bivouac had finished 11th of 12 (beaten 31 lengths) in the race at Chepstow on his reappearance, in same race this year Fraser Island also finished 11th of 12 (beaten 26 lengths). Big difference though is that Bivouac then went off at 4/1 for this race, but Fraser Island is 20/1 so clearly not fancied.

So I am not expecting much as it’s a big price, but given Henderson’s record in the race I have had a very small bet on it @ 20/1.

Good luck.