Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips: Increase your Cheltenham Festival fund by backing Partiro

I know what you are thinking: a winner this weekend would go down a treat with the Cheltenham Festival a matter of days away. Hopefully I can pinpoint one or two runners on Saturday who can hit the brief.

The featured race is the Imperial Cup (2.25), which will see a near-maximum field compete at Sandown for a tasty £100,000 prize fund. This contest is every bit as competitive as some of the handicaps at Prestbury Park next week despite lacking an Irish challenger - and there are tasty each-way and place terms on offer too. 

Ben Pauling has a strong hand with recent Huntingdon winner Jipcot and perennial bridesmaid Bad, but both are well found in the betting and come with risks attached - a quick turnaround and 4lb higher mark respectively - so they don’t look like betting prospects to me. Novice hurdler Making Headway could be very well treated off a mark of 129 and was last off my shortlist while Dan Skelton’s pair, Faivoir and Knickerbockerglory, are capable at their best.

However, I’m most interested in Sans Bruit on his second English start for Paul Nicholls after moving from France. This gelding’s form for David Cottin is pretty strong. A selection of hurdling victories, which includes a Grade 3 success in 2021, are backed up by a chase success and several other competitive performances at reasonable levels. 

He was never able to truly make his mark in Grade 1s, albeit he did finish fourth at the highest level in November 2022, and was subsequently switched to Nicholls. The Ditcheat trainer stated that he suffered from ulcers on arrival and his season has been curtailed as a result. It took until January 27 for him to make the track and he didn’t run as badly as the form figure may suggest after being fizzy from the outset. 

Sans Bruit has been freshened up since and dropped 2lb in the weights, which seems a touch lenient given he had obvious excuses for defeat. Saturday’s contest will mark his second run since wind surgery - an angle I like to exploit - and the return to deeper ground conditions should help his cause given the amount of form he possesses on heavy and very soft.

Nicholls has won this race two times in the last four years with French purchases and Sans Bruit looks handicapped to follow suit, or at least go close. I would quite like to see him take a lead this time rather than make the pace in such a big field.

The next horse I’m keen on runs at Hereford in the form of Hermes Le Gris, who has been pretty unfortunate to only record one success this season for fledgling trainer Robbie Llewellyn. The Welshman has found the right spot for him to double that tally in the 2m3½f handicap hurdle (4.02).

Hermes Le Gris joined Llewellyn from Warren Greatrex earlier this season and travelled beautifully on stable debut only to fall at the second-last when going much the best. It was a rather innocuous fall - he basically dived at the brush fence - and he made amends just six days later when he returned to the track for a comfortable seven-length strike at Huntingdon.

Connections tried to make the most of a lenient mark in quick time as they went back to the well just eight days later and he came up short in second. I don’t think that defeat came as a result of his higher mark, more that the combined longer trip, sharper track at Fakenham, and second prompt turnaround took its toll. 

It’s worth noting that Hermes Le Gris still beat the remainder of his rivals by a considerable distance that day - it wasn’t like he drastically underperformed despite losing at short odds.  He’s had a longer three-week spell on the sidelines since and, although he will compete off 2lb higher this weekend, the return to his ideal distance and a more conventional track should be more than enough to offset that. 

 Finally, I’m heading to Wolverhampton for my best bet on Saturday. The horse in question is Con Te Partiro, who will try to make it two-from-two in handicap company in the 1m½f finale (6.40) under Hollie Doyle. 

Richard Spencer clearly had races like this in mind when planning the horse’s future last autumn. I say that because he gave him three runs in sprint maidens over the span of just 20 days, before putting him away for a few months to develop. A classic plot move to exploit a low rating.

His reward was a mark of just 50 and Con Te Partiro made that look lenient at Kempton just over three weeks ago. The son of Time Test was heavily backed into 7/4 favouritism and scored by half-a-length despite getting a pretty horrible run through the contest - he was three-wide without cover for most of the journey. Many horses would struggle to play a part in the finish after that kind of trip, but it certainly didn’t stop him.

The handicapper gave him a 2lb rise for the success, which I believe was exceptionally kind. He’s likely to get a better run through on Saturday (it can’t be much worse!) and I would be very disappointed if he didn’t add another victory to his name. 

Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips

Sans Bruit (2.25 Sandown) @ 10/1
Hermes Le Gris (4.02 Hereford) @ SP
Con Te Partiro (6.40 Wolverhampton) @ SP