Horse Racing Tips: Renoir can paint the right picture at Taunton

It’s the calm before the storm on Monday, with four meetings taking place across Britain on the eve of the Cheltenham Festival and three are National Hunt fixtures. Stratford kicks us off before they go at Taunton and Plumpton, while Newcastle’s seven-race all-weather card provides the evening entertainment.

Amongst our Monday horse racing tips is a handicap debutant for trainer Ben Clarke who has filled the runner-up spot in both starts thus far and looks well set to go one better.

15:10 Taunton - Renoir @ 15/2

Watch out for Ben Clarke’s RENOIR here as the six-year-old has only had two starts over hurdles so far and the best is almost certainly yet to come. Making his handicap debut here, a mark of 105 looks pretty workable and he’s entitled to find significant improvement.

A winner on the Flat for previous connections, he claimed victory in a Class 6 handicap over 1m4f at Wolverhampton back in October. He was also very lightly raced in that sphere and is perhaps not the easiest to train.

Clarke’s gelding made a satisfactory start to life over hurdles, finishing second in a maiden hurdle at Wincanton over 1m7f and although he never looked like troubling the impressive winner, he ran a nice race despite being too keen in the early stages.

Renoir filled the same spot in a Hereford novice over two miles after that and he kept on well enough. Keenness was his downfall once again, but perhaps now running in handicaps, a faster gallop will allow him to settle better.

It’s clear we haven’t seen the best of him over hurdles yet and he’s the least exposed runner in this pretty average race, making the son of Nathaniel the one to side with.

This is an Extra Place Race, meaning that Betfred will pay 3 Places (1/5 Odds) instead of 2.

15:40 Taunton - Laskalin @ 5/2

It takes a certain type of horse to win over these marathon distances and Venetia Williams’ LASKALIN is one of those.

First-time blinkers did the trick at Bangor last time out as the 10-year-old returned to winning ways in the North Wales National.

The handicapper may have overreacted a little, hitting him with a 7lb rise for that length-and-a-quarter success, but he was a good second in this very race last year off 2lb higher and that certainly bodes well.

Stable jockey Charlie Deutsch rides Fuji Flight instead, but he may well have made the incorrect choice, with that horse returning after a 701-day absence.

Laskalin’s best form suggests he’s capable of running another huge race and there’s plenty to like about his chances.

This is an Extra Place Race, meaning that Betfred will pay 3 Places (1/5 Odds) instead of 2.

16:00 Plumpton - Rickety Bridge @ 5/4

Paul Nicholls’ RICKETY BRIDGE won a maiden hurdle in good style at Southwell a year ago and has frankly been pretty disappointing since.

That being said, his trainer appears to have found the six-year-old an excellent opportunity to get back on track.

A couple of subsequent winners have come out of that maiden hurdle, including the 128-rated Long Draw, who was well beaten back in fourth.

Putting in an improved display to finish second in a Pertemps qualifier over just shy of three miles at Chepstow when last seen, stamina is clearly this horse’s strong suit.

He should be well up to winning this, especially with the excellent Freddie Gingell taking 3lb off and there will be questions asked if he doesn’t.

The Cheltenham Festival is just days away - check out the latest Cheltenham Betting Odds, including the Gold Cup Betting Odds, over at betfred.com

Find more Horse Racing Tips here at Betfred Insights