16:35 Navan

Saturday 1 April 2017

All14:1514:5015:2516:0016:3517:1017:40

Follow Navan On Twitter Beginners Chase

Off time: 16:35 | Winning time: 5m 56.2s

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Selected odds by:

Ancient Sands¹¹¹

Age: 9| Weight: 11-12| J: B Hayes| T: J E Kiely

10/1

Made no impression on chase debut last time and plenty more would be needed here, but his good form over hurdles allows hope that he should improve in chases, and he has place claims at least here.

Form: 336507

Balbir Du Mathan^t¹⁶

Age: 8| Weight: 11-12| J: D F O'Regan| T: A Fleming| OR: 136

11/4

Pulled up in the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival last time but had run some fair races before that, including when finishing a good second at Punchestown over slightly shorter just over a year ago. Is a contender here.

Form: F25/26-8

Champagne Harmony³⁷

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: P Townend| T: S J Mahon

6/1

Won two bumpers and a maiden hurdle, and has been somewhat unlucky not to have crossed the line in front since then. We need to build on his early potential, but not out of this by any means.

Form: 427415-

Chelate⁴²

Age: 8| Weight: 11-12| J: B M Cash| T: T G McCourt

100/1

Won a weak looking point to point but has shown nothing under rules in two starts wide apart from each other and looks set for another minor role here.

Form: P1/00P-5

Chesterfieldavenue³³⁶

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: J S McGarvey| T: C Roche

10/1

Won a maiden hurdle before finishing third behind Bellshill (beaten 34L) over C&D in December 2015. Struggled next time out when well beaten by the smart Anibale Fly, but the absence since then (of almost a year) suggests all was not well that day. Big player here if overcoming the absence.

Form: 13-0

Crest^t¹⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: B J Cooper| T: G Elliott| OR: 121

7/4

Has been knocking at the door of late, with some good form in behind some useful sorts. This could be the perfect opportunity for him to get off the mark over fences for some top connections.

Form: 235223-

Newsworthy⁶

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: Mr S Cavanagh⁽⁷⁾| T: Mrs D A Love

28/1

Hasn't shown much form to suggest that he would be able to get competitive here, having unseated when looking beaten on debut for this yard at Downpatrick last time.

Form: 76U53-F

Phil's Magic¹⁸⁹

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: R Loughran| T: M S Sandra Hughes| OR: 122

10/1

Only modest form in chases so far but has still managed to run some solid races, and could be competitive here, especially if the more obvious selections fail to run to their best.

Form: 46F644-

Robin De Roost⁷⁰

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: J M Moore| T: T Gibney

33/1

Point to point winner who is 0/5 under rules so far, but has faced tricky fields in his two chase starts so far. There could be more to come.

Form: 438P80-

Aretesone^t⁴⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-8| J: I J McCarthy| T: T M Walsh

14/1

Dual point to point winner who has failed to get competitive under rules so far and will need to find more improvement than seems likely in order to be involved at the end of this.

Form: 338152

Hide The Biscuit^p1²³

Age: 7| Weight: 11-5| J: D E Mullins| T: M Torrens

33/1

Fair form so far including when taking a maiden hurdle at Wexford in October (2m4f, good). The ground is a slight concern but doesn't rule him out by any means.

Form: 103506

Forecasts

Crest (7/4), Balbir Du Mathan (11/4), Champagne Harmony (6/1), Phil's Magic (10/1), Ancient Sands (10/1), Chesterfieldavenue (10/1), Aretesone (14/1), Newsworthy (28/1), Hide The Biscuit (33/1), Robin De Roost (33/1), Chelate (100/1)

It might be worth siding with CHESTERFIELDAVENUE in this. He has to overcome an absence of almost a year but much stranger things have happened and he showed good form in his first two starts, while you can forget the last as something may have been amiss, leading to the prolonged absence. He can overcome Crest, who has looked capable of winning a race such as this one recently, and Balbir Du Mathan, who faces a more realistic target having been pulled up at Cheltenham two weeks ago.