FATHER and son combination Ted and Ruby Walsh are a potent force when they team for big races such as the £120,000 Tote Gold Trophy.

A race in which their representative Atlantic Rhapsody (3.05) holds an excellent each-way chance.

Ted does the training while Ruby does the riding and should Atlantic Rhapsody do the business it'll not be the first time the Irish duo have plundered one of our top National Hunt races. Three years ago they pounced with Papillion in the Grand National.

Naturally the Gold Trophy is the sort of race the bookies love because with 27 runners, an outsider, or "skinner" as they are known in the trade, is always likely to upset the more heavily-backed horses.

There's no doubt either that Atlantic Rhapsody would be a skinner for the major layers as he is on offer at 20-1 or better with most of the major firms. At those sort of long odds it is easy to write him off as a mugs' bet, but the Irish raider is nothing of the sort.

For instance, when trained at Middleham a couple of seasons ago, he was good enough to be placed in a succession of high-profile handicaps on the level between seven furlongs and a mile-and-a-half.

Since that time he has been sold out of Mark Johnston's stable, but given Atlantic Rhapsody's known ability, there was always a prospect another trainer would be able to get even more out of the gelding.

That was precisely the case because he promptly repaid his new connections in spades by scoring a famous victory in last year's Irish Lincoln Handicap.

Since that time Ted has switched the six-year-old to the jumps and picked up a couple of further races over the sticks.

It's a good way of keeping quirky types like Atlantic Rhapsody sweet and with Ruby doing the steering, a big family pay-day at Newbury is by no means a forlorn hope

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