Geraghty’s weight a concern for Burton Port’s Hennessy hopes
Published:Barry Geraghty’s struggles to make the right weight could hinder Burton Port’s chances of winning the Hennessy Gold Cup and therefore punters may be best served to back the horse each-way at 8/1, rather than opt for an outright victory.
Nicky Henderson’s horse is already deemed to be 4lb out of the handicap for the Newbury feature because of the distance between his official rating and that of the top-weighted Denman.
However, with Geraghty on board, Burton Port will be a further 2lb worse off as Geraghty can only cut weight to 10-2 and not the weight that any jockey riding the horse has been allocated.
The fact that Geraghty has ridden the horse in each of his last three victories has led trainer Nicky Henderson to the opinion that Geraghty should still take the ride despite the fact he will be carrying overweight, but a final decision is yet to be reached with owner Trevor Hemmings.
There is every reason to suggest that the horse will have no problem seeing out the 3m2f trip and this was proved when rallying up the hill to finish second in the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March.
Although he has also finished second in his two career starts at Haydock, which can be considered as a course that has similarities with Newbury.
If Burton Port does lengthen in the Newbury Hennessy betting odds market, then the horse could offer great each-way value, particularly as 16 or more runners are set to run, which will ensure that payouts will be made on the horse finishing fourth.
Burton Port has never been out of the first four when completing a race and has finished 15 of his 17 career starts.
Meanwhile, Burton Port has been in the first two in all of his last eight racecourse appearances.
Denman is the current Hennessy Gold Cup favourite at 4/1 as he bids to win the race for a third time. See the full ante post Newbury Hennessy betting odds market.
