Saturday Kempton top racing tips: Dubrovnik Harry eyeing up Lanzarote Hurdle

Steve JonesSteve Jones14 January 2023
Love Envoi ridden by jockey Jonathan Burke

Love Envoi ridden by jockey Jonathan Burke

From a busy weekend racecard, Tipstrr's horse racing expert Steve Jones has picked out a hurdler who should be well suited by Saturday's conditions at Kempton Park.

We've enjoyed a decent record in this race over the years, not least when the 2021 winner, Boreham Bill, was our next-best selection at 66/1, with the 14/1 third, Hunters Call, being our main bet in the same race.

Harry Fry has sent out four hurdling winners in recent days, and he also sent out the 2021 runner-up in this event, Misty Whisky, and the handler has a good chance of going one better this time with another seven-year-old, Dubrovnik Harry.

Very highly-regarded by his trainer, Dubrovnik Harry was sent off favourite for his chasing and seasonal debut at Exeter in November following a break of 253 days.
That trip looked a bit sharp for him and he probably needed the run in any case, but he still finished third of nine behind a more experienced previous chasing winner, so it was a decent enough start for him in that sphere, particularly as he will improve his occasionally sketchy jumping with more experience.

14:40 (Kempton) Dubrovnik Harry

Racing over hurdles on his four previous outings, he returned figures of 3123, with by far his top three performances coming on ground that was either soft or heavy going, so the forecast of more rain for Saturday morning goes in his favour, as does this right-handed track because all his runs so far have been on that configuration.

On his second run of last season, he won a maiden hurdle at Exeter by no less than 25 lengths on heavy ground, and interestingly, the runner-up that day, American Gerry, has won twice since, after which he was rated 122, only six pounds below Dubrovnik Harry's current mark of 128.
Dubrovnik Harry made his only handicap appearance in this sphere on his final start of last season in March, which was in Sandown's very strong Grade 3 Paddy Power Novices' Handicap Hurdle Final, when the winner was the very useful Paul Nicholls-trained seven-year-old, Complete Unknown, who is now a 142-rated chaser.

Dubrovnik Harry came third of 17, less than two lengths behind the runner-up, keeping on well up the hill in the closing stages an effort that needs marking-up considerably, because he raced against the pace bias and came from well back to finish the race better than anything.

Up just three pounds and having now proved himself conclusively in a high-class big-field handicap on a right-handed track with soft ground, the lightly-raced Dubrovnik Harry looks a big player on this second start of the season, having also won on his second outing last term.
Of the others, Up For Parol could easily out-run his big early price now back on a suitably soft surface, and his latest run, over this very trip, can easily be ignored because the good ground was nothing like what he wants.
But last season, he won a Class 2 handicap over 19 furlongs on the flat track at Haydock, where the ground was soft, and his follow-up run, which was in today's race, saw him finish a never-nearer sixth of 19 on soft ground.
That run came off a mark of 133, so a similar effort off today's mark of 129 will see him thereabouts because he only missed third place by a length last year, and he would have been even closer had he not come from so far back.

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