Frank Hickey and Ruby Walsh have given their top tips for the latest Paddy Power Millionaire Chase qualifier set to run at Ascot this weekend.
Paddy is looking to brighten someone’s year by giving away £/€1million in cash on January 1 at Cheltenham’s New Year’s Day meeting, with winning punters from six qualifying races all entering a sweepstake for the creatively-named main event.
The second of those six qualifying races gets underway at 15.17 on Saturday afternoon, and one lucky punter who picks the winner will then be drawn out of the hat and move forward to the mega sweepstake.
The winner will take the top prize, while every other punter who makes the final on January 1 is guaranteed to pocket £/€10,000, meaning picking a winner in this weekend’s qualifier get your new year off to a flyer.
All you have to do is click this handy OPT IN link and then place a winning bet of a minimum of £/€5 through the Paddy Power app or Paddy Power website on the relevant race.
Not sure who to back? Well our top tipsters Ruby Walsh and Frank Hickey have been studying the form and revealed their selections on our From The Horse’s Mouth podcast on Friday.
MORE MILLIONAIRE CHASE QUALIFIER TIPS
- Our runner-by-runner guide to the 3.17pm Millionaire Qualifer
Paddy’s punting panel reveal their selections
Frank Hickey – First Flow
“Magic Saint is back in action relatively quickly after winning at Cheltenham last weekend. He was quite impressive but he’s up 7lbs, and Bryan Carver claimed 5lbs at Cheltenham but only claims 3lbs here so effectively he’s gone up 9lbs. It’s going to be tough for him to win off that mark.
“I was therefore going to side with FIRST FLOW for Kim Bailey. The yard has been in form, he likes soft ground, he’s relatively unexposed still and he ran really well at Sandown in February when he was second by half a length behind Dolos. The third, Delire D’Estruval, won a nice handicap at Kempton on his next start. First Flow has won ‘nothing’ races since, winning a weak handicap at Leicester off a mark of 141 and two novice races at Doncaster and Carlisle. But his first time out off a break on soft ground right-handed, everything is in place for him to run a big race.”
Ruby Walsh – Marracudja
“This is a tough race. The top six in the betting are all running off career-high marks, so if you think there is an improver in there that can justify their career-high mark, then so be it.
“Out of the rest – as everyone gets older, they get slower so Gino Trail over 2 miles, at 13 years old, could be too slow. That only leaves MARRACUDJA, so I’m going for him, William Marshall is claiming 7lbs off him, which brings him down to 10st 3lbs. He ran disappointingly in the Haldon Gold Cup behind Greaneteen but I don’t know if it was that bad and you only have to go back to last season where he was fifth in this race.
“He was third behind Defi Du Seuil in the Grade 1 at Ascot – the Matchbook Clarence House – and he beat Hawk High at Wetherby on the second day of the Christmas meeting there so the form can be there.”
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widget, while in-copy odds are correct at time of publication but subject to change
15.17 Ascot (Paddy Power’s Millionaire Chase qualifier)
Frank Hickey: First Flow
Ruby Walsh: Marracudja
Remember, to enter you need to click the OPT IN link and then place a winning bet of a minimum of £/€5 through the Paddy Power app or Paddy Power website on the relevant race. Full T&Cs are available at PaddyPower.com.
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- Ruby Walsh’s 10 to follow for the 2020/21 jumps season
- Paul Jacobs’ 10 to follow for the 2020/21 jumps season
- Mick Fitzgerald’s 10 to pay their way for the new jumps season
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