Arkle Chase: Overturn advertises Festival claims

Overturn produced another superb front-running display to keep his unbeaten record over fences intact in the Scottish Arkle Novices' Chase at Musselburgh...

Overturn produced another superb front-running display to keep his unbeaten record over fences intact in the Scottish Arkle Novices' Chase at Musselburgh...

Donald McCain's incredible dual-purpose performer was a long odds-on favourite following impressive rounds of jumping at Sandown and Doncaster, but faced an interesting challenger in the shape of Nicky Henderson's Kempton scorer Tetlami.

Overturn was soon adopting his customary trailblazing tactics and even with a circuit to go it was clear Tetlami was struggling to keep tabs on the nine-year-old.

Jason Maguire continued to wind up the tempo heading down the back, with some fine leaps keeping the pressure on.

By the time he rounded the final turn Overturn was well clear and safely negotiated the remaining obstacles in the straight to score by am emphatic 29 lengths.

Tetlami was the only other finisher, with Asaid refusing to start and rank outside Next Sensation falling when well beaten at the second-last.

Overturn has been cut for the Arkle on the back of that impressive display, now trading at 4.84/1.

Look out for Brand new features with Timeform Race Passes - In-Play Hints, Running Notes & Warning Horses. Find out more at timeform.com.

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Weekend Review: Grand National contenders largely enhance claims

Timeform Debate / Timeform / 05 March 2012 / Leave a Comment

Can Junior win at Royal Ascot, Cheltenham and Aintree?

"Junior was under pressure a long way out but did his Grand National claims no harm for all that his jumping wasn't impeccable..."

Timeform give an overview of the weekend's racing, featuring a number of horses with the upcoming Festivals on their agenda...

It was Greatwood day at Newbury on Saturday and the Gold Cup Handicap Chase went the way of Aerial for Messrs Nicholls and Walsh. Having looked held when not fluent four out, Aerial was the recipient of a vintage ride and got up in the shadow of the post, the 3 lb he had been dropped since his last run enough to make the difference. Short-head runner-up Dan Breen bounced back to form, settling better than has often been the case, while Rileyev showed more stamina than he had previously, sticking to his task in typical fashion to edge out last year's winner Fine Parchment for third.

Earlier on the card, last year's Grand National fifth Niche Market had teed himself up for a return bid with a narrow second to the better-than-ever Marufo in the veterans' handicap chase. The former may be winless since his 2009 Irish National victory but he should give his Aintree supporters a run for their money come April 14. Fellow National possibles Hello Bud and Fair Along finished fourth and fifth respectively, while the lacklustre Blazing Bailey was promptly retired after being pulled up.

Benbens built on his solid effort on his latest outing when seeing things out well to take the Betfair-sponsored handicap hurdle over three miles, whilst French recruit Balgarry defied a massive market drift on his first start for David Pipe to run out a comfortable winner of the two-mile handicap hurdle, suggesting his entries in the Coral Cup and Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' race are not at all frivolous.

The feature up at Doncaster was the Grimthorpe Chase, a class 2 handicap over three and a quarter miles. With the strong-travelling Pentiffic falling at the last (albeit having looked as if coming to the end of his tether), the race fell into the lap of Ikorodu Road and Junior, the former getting the verdict in a photo finish. Junior was under pressure a long way out but did his Grand National claims no harm for all that his jumping wasn't impeccable, whilst the winner gained a belated first victory over fences and looks well worth trying over the four miles of the Scottish National.

There were also comfortable wins for Corkage, who defied career-high mark in the opening three-mile handicap hurdle, the unbeaten Aland Islands, who successfully returned from four months off in the two-and-a-half mile novice hurdle, and Ultimate, who took advantage of only half the fences being jumped (due to low sun) in the extended two-mile handicap chase.

Further north at Kelso, Master of The Hall was a ready winner of the two-and-three-quarter-mile Premier Chase, travelling easy under a patient ride before responding generously to Tony McCoy's urgings late on. However, for most watchers the race was more about the return of Grand National winner Ballabriggs, who travelled with typical zest before making an uncharacteristic error at the eleventh and seemingly failed for match fitness in the closing stages. Fellow National entry According To Pete stuck on doggedly for second after forfeiting the lead with a mistake at the ninth.

The track also staged the Grade 2 Premier Kelso Hurdle for novices, which saw Lucinda Russell's Tap Night step up significantly to secure his yard's second successive win in the race, staying on strongly to defeat of Tolworth scorer Captain Conan and Bury Parade. Cheltenham is now being considered for him, as it is for handicap chase winner Red Tanber, whose sound jumping enabled him to overcome a drop back in trip to record his fifth win in his last six starts.

There was also intriguing action internationally with Godolphin's It's Tricky (Top Flight Handicap), Calibrachoa (Tom Fool Handicap) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero Hansen (Gotham Stakes - read the review HERE) each winning graded events on dirt at Aqueduct, and Dubai World Cup hopeful Cirrus des Aigles getting turned over by German raider Zazou in a fibresand minor event at Chantilly.

Even further afield, Sheikh Mohammed experienced the ups and downs of racing when his outsider Raspberries won the seven-furlong Group 3 at Flemington just 80 minutes after his Dubai-bound favourite Helmet had finished 12th of 16 to Mosheen in the Group 1 Australian Guineas on the same card.

In keeping with most Sunday's, Ireland provided the best action with Jessie Harrington's Champion Bumper fancy Jezki comfortable remaining unbeaten in two and Leanne upholding the form of her Clonmel win by following up in the Carrickmines Handicap Chase. Pittoni justified favouritism in the Ballsbridge Hurdle but was dismounted lame shortly after the race.

...........
Timeform Horses to Follow 2012 is out now! Includes Fifty to follow on the Flat, top trainer interviews & much more! Click HERE for more information.

With the new Flat turf season rapidly approaching, Timeform launch their latest 'Horses to Follow' publication, containing Fifty of the best prospects for 2012, plus big-name interviews and much, much more. It's out on March 3rd, ready for the Lincoln, in good time for the Guineas, and still only £8.95....

If the worst comes to the worst and Kauto Star is forced to miss the Gold Cup, then it's a simple task for Long Run and Sam Waley-Cohen. Or is it? Timeform Chief Correspondent Jamie Lynch gets on his bike to find out......

Timeform look ahead to a weekend featuring a number of Grand National hopefuls running at Newbury and Kelso on Saturday, as well as quality Irish and International action on Sunday......

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Martin Schleich Claims EPT Barcelona over Kostic, Katchalov

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 02 September 2011 / Leave a Comment

Martin Schleich, 2011 EPT Barcelona Champion (Photo credit: PokerNews / PokerStars)

After five long days of play, Martin Schleich of Germany has bested a field of 811 to claim the Season 8 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event title. Schleich survived a hard-fought, 14-hour final table that finally came to an end with his elimination of the Spaniard Dragan Kostic in second. Eugene Katchalov finished third, just missing in his quest for poker's triple crown.

Katchalov entered Thursday's final table as the short stack among the final eight, but the Ukrainian quickly went to work, scoring two double-ups early on, the second resulting in the elimination of the last woman standing in the event, Isabel Baltazar of France.

First Katchalov managed to get his short stack all in with Ah-Qs versus Saar Wilf's Qc-9c and survived. Then just a few minutes later Baltazar ran her pocket queens into Katchalov's Ad-Ac to hit the rail in eighth.

That brought Katchalov back to the middle of the pack with close to 3 million chips, though there was still much ground between him and leaders Raul Mestre (Spain), Tomeu Gomila (Spain), and Wilf (Israel), all of whom were sitting in the 5-5.5 million range.

Spaniard Juan Manuel Perez was the next elimination in seventh, ousted by Gomila after the latter's 10c-10d held up versus Perez' Ad-Kh. Then Katchalov, who'd become short-stacked again, managed to score two more double-ups through Gomila and Mestre, including one in which Katchalov caught a needed three-outer on the river to survive.

In that hand -- versus Gomila -- Katchalov was all in before the flop with Ah-Jh against Gomila's As-4c. The flop came 6d-4h-8d, pairing Gomila's four, and after the 9d turn things looked especially bleak for Katchalov. But the Jc landed on the river to save him.

Then, after doubling through Mestre and winning a few more pots, Katchalov was suddenly atop the counts with six players left. Meanwhile, Wilf had slipped into short-stack status, and soon was all in with As-2d versus Katchalov who held 3d-3c. The five community cards came Jc-5c-4s-10h-2s, and Wilf was out in sixth.

That hand increased Katchalov's lead, pushing him up around 9 million chips and making his prospects for achieving that triple crown -- a WSOP bracelet, a WPT title, and an EPT title -- look very possible.

Gomila was the next to depart in fifth, losing a race with As-Kh versus Schleich's Qc-Qd. Then it was Katchalov busting yet Mestre in fourth. In that one Mestre was all in with Ad-5d versus Katchalov's Qc-10d, but by the turn Mestre was already drawing dead as Katchalov had made a queen-high straight.

The remaining three players -- Katchalov, Schleich, and Kostic -- battled for over four hours (with breaks), their stacks near even for the start of that period, then eventually Katchalov becoming the short stack.

Finally Katchalov reraised his remaining 3.3 million all in with 7s-7s and was called by Schleich who held 9s-9h. A seven flopped, but so did a nine as the first three cards came out 7d-9c-3d. The turn was the 8s and the river the 2s, and Katchalov was out in third.

That hand gave Schleich about a two-to-one advantage over Kostic with 15.5 million to Kostic's 8.775 million.

Those two fought for nearly an hour, with Kostic closing the gap then falling back again. Finally, with the blinds at 120,000/240,000, Kostic open-raised all in with Ac-7h and was called by Schleich who tabled Ah-9s. The board came Qc-5h-2c-Kc-9h, and Schleich had claimed the EPT trophy and €850,000 first prize.

The EPT's next stop will be in London at the Hilton Metropole Hotel September 30-Oct 6. After breaking records with the 811 entrants at EPT Barcelona, it will be interesting to see if the tour can top the field of 848 who played last year's EPT London Main Event where David Vamplew of Scotland won the title and £900,000.

Final Table Payouts

1st: Martin Schleich (Germany) -- €850,000
2nd: Dragan Kostic (Spain) -- €532,000
3rd: Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) -- €315,000?
4th: Raul Mestre (Spain) -- €244,000?
5th: Tomeu Gomila (Spain) -- €185,000?
6th: Saar Wilf (Israel) -- €145,000?
7th: Juan Manuel Perez (Spain) -- €105,000
8th: Isabel Baltazar (France) -- €73,000

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