Jake Price's Free Tips for Saturday Horse Racing Action

Tip 1 – KHRISMA 1.5pts Win

Best odds of 6/4 at Ladbrokes while publishing.

Sometimes a horse is so obvious that it is not leaping off the page, but it is rather slapping you around the face – and surely that has to apply to Nicky Henderson’s KHRISMA. This Mare was priced as a general 6/1 shot for a race as competitive as the County Hurdle this time last week where she was denied a run, but up at Kelso on Saturday she now finds herself as by far the best horse in the race, and it is just a case of whether she can carry the weight against inferior rivals.

This French Recruit has always been prodigiously talented as she was a Grade 3 AQPS winner at Lyon Parilly before being purchased by JP McManus. On British debut last season she ran extremely well for third behind Jubilee Alpha/Bluey, before she then ran a mighty race at the Punchestown Festival when second behind Casheldale Lad (152) – a piece of form which makes her look very well handicapped off 128 despite receiving a stone from that Gordon Elliott rival.

This season KHRISMA has been entirely teed up to go for a big handicap, with an easy win at Uttoxeter in November followed by a narrow defeat when tenderly handled at Huntingdon just before Christmas. Plan A was to go for the William Hill Hurdle at Newbury, but a slight setback meant they instead had to rush her to Market Rasen in February, where she beat Charisma Cat (124) who goes for the Grade 2 Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury later in the day.

That rushed win was only to get a fifth run into her in order to run in the County, but having previously qualified for the Herring Queen Final, this extremely valuable £51,440 to the winner contest will have to make do as backup. Nico de Boinville also elects to go North (despite initially looking Newbury bound), where she is his only ride of the day.

Tip 2: STRONG RUN - 1pt Win

Best odds of 11/2 at Unibet while publishing.

It is Groundhog Day in the Mares EBF Final, as I think that Fergal O’Brien has extremely strong claims of going back-to-back for this column, with STRONG RUN looking to follow up Siog Geal’s win in the race twelve months ago.

This Mare has been very smartly campaigned with this race in mind, starting out when a staying-on third over two miles here at Newbury in November on hurdles debut. She was very much outpaced and looked to need further, but she managed to beat Watamu by a neck despite being well behind that rival before the last.

She stepped up to 2m4½f at Southwell in December and easily won a weak Mares' Maiden to pick up her GBB bonus, before she was last seen running in a qualifier for this Final at Wincanton in January. STRONG RUN and the eventual winner Coolanna (119) pulled well clear of the remainder, and that rival was even sent off a 3/1 shot for a Listed race next time out – finishing fourth. Considering that was our selection's first ever try on Heavy ground it was a very good effort mind, and not winning a Qualifier for your big day is certainly not a bad thing. The RaceIQ data was suitably impressed with that performance too, as it somehow marked her out as gaining an enormous 17 lengths jumping.

The long story short however is that she has a remarkably similar profile to that of Siog Geal last year, who also finished second in her Qualifier at Market Rasen before landing the final off this exact mark of 116. On Bumper form alone this Mare clearly has plenty in hand, having only been beaten a neck by last year's winner at Cheltenham in November 2024, and she was also sixth in the Grade 2 Mares

Bumper at Aintree last Spring when having the likes of Getawhisky, Charisma Cat and Betty's Daisy nicely behind.

Tip 3: KELTYPE – 0.5pts EW (4 Places)

Best odds of 12/1 at bet365 while publishing.

Whilst there is no doubt that this is a competitive Bumper as usual, I was extremely impressed with what KELTYPE did when we last saw him at Chepstow in January – and if we get a well-run race then I think he will have every chance.

On debut he finished a very credible fourth at Chepstow in a race which very much developed into a sprint to the line (finishing speed percentage of 119%), but the race was won by Princess Day, who looks a very smart Mare for the Jeremy Scott team. When returning in January Freddie Gordon decided to dictate the pace himself from the front however, and that created a much more evenly run affair with a finishing speed percentage of 102%.

That emphasis on stamina rather than speed allowed KELTYPE to completely grind his rivals into submission, and he ran out a very impressive 15 length winner – which sets a fair standard coming into this contest. With Ben Jones on board this time I should imagine he will try and dictate from the front once more, and so hopefully at a galloping track like Newbury he will be able to grind the speed out of his rivals.