King of the Spring (Novice Chasers)

Spring time is here and for some that signifies the winding down of the jumps and the beginning of the flat.

However, there are still numerous betting opportunities to be had over the sticks and in today's post I want to concentrate on April Novice Chasers.

Are some trainers more adept than others at getting their novice chasers into the winners circle in April?

The following are a bunch of trainers that particularly caught my eye and it may well prove profitable to follow their novice chasers this month -  

*Stats going back to 2005 (using Proform)

ALAN KING

34 runners | 10 winners | 29% S/R | +£49.32 BF LSP - Win & Place S/R 47% 

Solid figures from the Barbury Castle yard. Interestingly Wayne Hutchinson seems to be the man to do the job on the April novice chasers as he has ridden 6 of the 34 and has won on an impressive 5 of them (5/6 for an 83% S/R).

PAUL NICHOLLS

82 runners | 22 winners | 27% S/R | +£4.44 BF LSP - Win & Place S/R 51% 

No surprise to see the Nicholls yard up at the top of the list and also no surprise to see slim pickings on the LSP front. Perhaps the best area to concentrate on is Nicholls French Bred (FR) novices' as they have supplied 18 of the 22 winners; overall stats for the (FR) breds read - 18/56 | 32% S/R | +£22.73 BF LSP. 

DAVID ARBUTHNOT

6 runners | 4 winners | 67% S/R | +£12.65 BF LSP - Win & Place S/R 83%

Not a name I would expect to see on this type of list but the figures don't lie. The yard had 2 runners in novice chases in April last year and both won; a sneaky one for us to keep an eye on.

GORDON ELLIOTT

6 runners | 3 winners | 50% S/R | +£3.69 BF LSP - Win & Place S/R 67%

The ever improving Gordon Elliott; 'nuff said! 4 of the 6 runners were at Perth with form figures at the track of 1-2-4-1.

It's not all positive though and here are a couple of trainers to approach with caution with regards to their April novice chasers - 

VENETIA WILLIAMS

42 runners | 3 winners | 7% S/R | -£29.44 BF LSP - Win & Place S/R 24%

The win and place S/R of Miss Williams' April novice chasers isn't too bad but the win S/R is certainly a concern. Interestingly all 3 winners came at 2m4f and 2 of them started at odds-on.

COLIN TIZZARD

13 runners | 0 winners | 0% S/R | -£13.00 BF LSP - Win & Place S/R 15%

Not a huge sample for us to look at but with only 2 of the 13 reaching the places it would pay to tread carefully around the yards April novice chasers.

Happy Punting

Ben (NTF)