Cheltenham Festival Day 1 - Part 1

The Cheltenham Festival gets underway Tuesday here is our recommendations to the best of the bets from the opening day in our first of a three part guide.

The action gets underway at 1.30pm with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. The race is one of a number across the day to feature a short priced favourite, My Tent or Yours.

The Nicky Henderson trained mount has three wins and a second from four starts over the jumps and has looked impressive each time out. Many make this their banker of the meeting though at odds of around 6/4 (general) I will not be rushing to back it. Despite having AP McCoy on board I am worried the price is short on a horse that has never seen Cheltenham before. This race is a graveyard for the favourites with just three of the last 16 horses to start at 3/1 or under winning this race. In fact seven of the last eight winners can be found from outside the top three in the betting. This then might be the kind of race in which you can land some good each-way value.

I like the look of Champagne Fever from the Willie Mullins yard. The Irish have a good record in this race winning eight of the last 14 runnings of it. Mullins has a four strong team here but it is Champagne Fever who has caught my eye. Ruby Walsh is the man at Cheltenham and he has chosen the ride on this. The horse matches a lot of the key criteria of previous race winners winning the Wetherbys Champion Bumper last time out which has provided the winner three times previously. The Horse also won last time out which 14 of the 16 previous winners have done and has also race experience including at Cheltenham. As of writing the horse was trading at around 10/1 (general) which looks the way to play it.

The second race of the afternoon is the Arkle Trophy with the market headed by odds on shot Simonsig. The Nicky Henderson runner has eight wins from the last nine starts and has won each of the last five. The Horse clearly likes Cheltenham after winning at the Festival last year in the Neptune and has won both recents races comfortably and is a deserved favourite. Those looking to take on the 4/6 (general) shot will be looking for chinks in the armour and perhaps the lack of appearance since December and the fact that he has since missed some prep at Newbury indicates the price is a little too short to touch.

If Simonsig is to be beaten then it may be Overturn who does the damage. The nine-year-old is a ultra-dependable sound jumper who may lack the flair of Simonsig but is unbeaten in three outings over fences. Overturn will be available at around 3/1 in the morning though your best bet may be in finding a bookmaker willing to bet without Simonsig. These two look like they should have too much for the others in the field and in this market you do not have to worry about whether Overturn can beat Simonsig just whether he can see off the others. Also in this race I like the each-way chances of Majala at current odds of 33/1. The horse would have prefered testing conditions but the Tom George runner has won the last three times out and though lacks the class of some of the others in the field could just have enough to get round in the front three at competitive prices.

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BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Overturn in betting without Simonsig in the Arkle, best morning prices
SILVER: Champagne Fever EW in the Supreme Novices, best available prices
BRONZE: Majala EW in the Arkle, best available prices

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12/03/2013     © Frixo 2024