For all I have thought about Blue Square in recent weeks, they do, once in a blue moon, add a free bet to your account (out of sympathy, I imagine) and last night I noticed that the exact amount of the two bets I had on Join Together had been added to my account in free bets. So, having missed the well-backed At Fisher's Cross when he won recently, I took the 4/1 about him at Cheltenham today and he readily obliged at 11/4. So, hats off to Blue Square.
But we do still need to make sure that the Saturday Nap ends on a level stake profit at SP. Doing Join Together each way would have put us mathematically safe but I deliberately went for the big hit. So this week we are back on a 'safety first' strategy.
One way of finding a horse to avoid in recent weeks has been to simply check the headline of the Racing Post Weekender and this week they go for Walkon. It has drifted in the market today while Nicholls' Cristal Bonus has been supported but Nadiya de la Vega at 11/1 might be worth staying with again in a race that doesn't look like one for a big punt.
Zarkandar is tempting in the hurdle at Cheltenham and while I would oppose Rock on Ruby there, I am less happy in taking on Grandouet, who I might even back against the favourite but this might be one best watched because you'll only have yourself to blame when being wiser and poorer after the event.
With Far West and Oscar Whisky at prohibitive odds on in other races at Cheltenham, it might be preferable to look at Doncaster where Henderson and Nicholls send their second jockeys to contest a Grade 2 hurdle and where Vasco du Ronceray, 2.45, is preferred.