Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot preview, contenders, odds & tips

Coral shares its preview and tip for the weekend’s big race at Ascot - the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle

A strong field of 11 runners looks set to line up for the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday afternoon to battle it out for the £72,000 top prize. 

Trainers Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies have two of them, with Beauport and Potters Charm both entered - the latter was third in an Ascot hurdle contest last time out - but neither of them are at the head of the market. 

That honour goes to Irish raider Honesty Policy from the Gordon Elliott yard, who looks primed to step up to this trip after an excellent second behind Jasmin De Vaux in a Grade 1 at Punchestown last time around and also won a the Grade 1 Mersey Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree last season.

The favourite is owned by JP McManus and so is the second favourite, Impose Toi, for trainer Nicky Henderson. He looked in good nick when landing the Coral Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury last month when beating the re-opposing Strong Leader but was 6lb better off in the weights that day, so Olly Murphy's charge could reverse that form here and has Coral ambassador Sean Bowen on board to give Murphy’s runner a major chance here.

Murphy is also double-handed with Gwennie May Boy, a winner of the Rendlesham last February but hasn’t got anywhere near that form since, while Henderson also has a second runner with Doddiethegreat, the Cheltenham Festival Pertemps Final winner but has been beaten by Strong Leader and Impose Toi since then. 

It would be remiss not to mention Crambo for the Fergal O’Brien yard, who has won this race the last two times but it will be a tough ask to make it a hat-trick having bombed out in the Grade 2 Ascot Hurdle on his seasonal return, finishing dead last of the eight runners that included Potters Charm and Gwennie May Boy that day. 

Altobelli, Colonel Mustard and Jet Blue round out the field, with the latter of that trip perhaps a shout for a place here for trainer David Cottin, a winner of a Grade 2 at Cheltenham last year and resumed this campaign with a fine second in a Group 1 in France five weeks ago. 

Coral’s big-race tip: Strong Leader win @ 7/2 

Coral also has an extensive race-by-race preview for Ascot on Saturday, December 20. The article features tips for all of the races happening at this weekend's meet.

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All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.