Harry Fry to make American great again in Newbury’s Ladbrokes Trophy

The Ladbrokes Trophy from Newbury is almost upon us and that means it’s time to have a proper look at the form and ante-post betting ahead of the contest.

Leading the current field of 45 (which must be whittled down to 24 come race day) is Total Recall at 9/2.

Willie Mullins’ mount looks set to start as favourite after a more than handy 7l win over Alpha Des Obeaux on his reappearance at Limerick last month.

He’s upped 18lb in the weights as a result of that victory as he goes for success in his maiden outing on English soil.

Opposing the favourite is 6/1 shot American, trained by Harry Fry.

This may be the seven-year-old’s seasonal reappearance, but he’s unbeaten in three starts over fences while the yard is in excellent form of late.

The French-bred raider looks like the one to be on even if this is his first go at black-type level. He gets our backing for the Trophy.

Singlefarmpayment, on the other hand, has run at this level before and is rated only slightly longer at 7/1.

He was runner-up to only Un Temps Pour Tout in the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham in March.

And if that run was anything to go by he should benefit from the extra 1½fs on offer here after staying on well over 3m 1f in Gloucestershire. The son of Milan certainly holds significant claims for Tom George.

Whisper is another that must be considered at 15/2. That looks like good value for a gelding who has numerous Grade 1 wins under his belt and whose only conqueror last season was Might Bite. Victory here would see him become the first nine-year-old winner of this renewal since Denman in 2009.

Vyta Du Roc and A Genie In Abottle come next at 10/1. The latter has better claims than the former following a Listed win at Wexford last month. Conditions look set to suit and at a new distance, it’ll be interesting to see how former Grade 3 runner-up fares at Newbury.

Veteran of the field Coneygree is the last of the featured contenders at an interesting price of 14/1. While his quality is undoubted, it’s his age that counts against him. No 10-year-old has won this 3m 2½f slog since Diamond Edge in 1981. He’s top-weight as well and after he pulled up in the Charlie Hall Chase earlier this month, it may be worth dodging Mark Bradstock’s mount for this one.

Click here for the latest Ladbrokes Winter Trophy odds.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.