Heltenham for another Skelton plot.

The Skelton yard are brilliant at landing well planned gambles in big handicaps and now there has been 10mm of rain overnight at Kempton and the ground gone to good to soft i think that Heltenham has everything in place to win the 85,000 Ladrokes Trophy Handicap Chase

He is the same ownership as Flegmatik who failed narrowly in this same event in 2024 beaten 2l and 2023 beaten a neck and would have been very well handicapped to come back for a third attempt this season.

The fact that they have relied on Heltenham is a tip in itself and a further look into the 8yo’s profile provides ample evidence that today is the target.

He has been given a break of over 60 days, is coming down the weights and is trying a trip of 3m for the first time. The latter fact had initially left me unsure and slightly in favour of previous winner Our Power from the Sam Thomas yard who has a great record in this race. However, Skelton commented yesterday that the 3m trip ‘will definitely suit Heltenham‘ . It now ticks all the Skelton big handicap gamble boxes and i cannot see the 8yo being out of the frame.

8yo’s have the best win record in the race

We were seriously unlucky on Thursday not to land the Irish Grand National Trial Handicap Chase when Will Do 15/2 was beaten by a stable mate running for the first time over fences. The EW bet meant we made a small profit and although I think Heltenham has a great win chance the EW insurance is worth taking out. Hopefully S.P will be around 10/1.

0.5pts EW Heltenham 3.35 Kempton BOG 1-4 places 1-5 with Sky Bet