Friday Racing Tips: Grey on the dawn of Graded company

Five meetings take place across the UK & Ireland on Friday, with three over obstacles and two on the all-weather.

Our tips all come from Cheltenham in the afternoon, and features a mud-lover who gets the services of in-form jockey Gavin Sheehan who takes his first ride on a well-treated veteran chaser.

12:40 Cheltenham - Grey Dawning @ 7/4

The Graduation Chase winner Grey Dawning lines up in this Novices’ Chase for Dan and Harry Skelton and looks set to follow-up from a big performance just three weeks ago.

The front-running grey put in a spectacular jumping performance at Haydock, dictating the pace and beat the 2023 National Hunt Chase winner by around 10 lengths.

That was his first win over fences in his second start, following a third behind the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase ante-post favourite Stay Away Fay on chase debut.

The form lines behind this horse are strong and he should be running in Graded races at the spring Festivals. He’ll relish the soft ground, the softer the better and expect him to make it two wins in three chase starts.

14:25 Cheltenham - Lord Du Mesnil @ 8/1

Lord Du Mesnil is a veteran staying chaser who has now come down to a mark that he can exploit.

The Richard Hobson-trained gelding has run at Cheltenham three times, finishing second twice and the soft conditions only benefit this horse.

The ten-year-old finished last season at Cheltenham after finishing less than a length behind Captain Cattistock.

The in-form Gavin Sheehan takes the ride on this horse for the first time and the jockey has a recent strike-rate of 32 per-cent. Testing conditions will suit this horse and any further rain can only help his chance.

15:35 Cheltenham - Captain Morgs @ 9/1

Nicky Henderson’s Captain Morgs won this race in 2022 and has been progressive this season, finishing fourth and second respectively.

Nico de Boinville takes the ride on this staying hurdler and there’s not many jockeys that know how to ride Cheltenham as well as Henderson’s stable jockey.

Captain Morgs has a good record at Cheltenham having won last year and finished third earlier in his career. Cheltenham is a course where experience is key and for a seven-year-old, he has experience in bundles.

The danger would be Joe Tizzard’s Gyenyame who was fancied to win at Cheltenham’s November meeting, only to be beaten by the well-handicapped Springwell Bay. Up just 2lb, this five-year-old is progressive and can exploit his mark, but up in trip in testing conditions may see this horse stretched too far.