Cheltenham Festival Day 1 - Part 3

Here is our third of three guides to the action at Cheltenham on Tuesday taking in the best of the bets from the three remaining races.

After the Champion Hurdle comes the Handicap Chase (Cross Country) with bookmakers split between Arabella Boy and Outlaw Pete at the head of the market. The race has tended to be dominated by trainer Enda Bolger who has trained four of the eight winners of this race and is represented here by Arabella Boy and Freneys Well. It is the former who looks the first choice of the stable especially with Nina Carberry on board. The negative on the horse though is that it is likely to go off as around 4/1 favourite which seems far too short on a horse with two bad showings on previous visits to Cheltenham. In December Nina Carberry was unseated here by Arabella Boy and in March of 2011 the Horse was just 10th of 16 in a race at the Festival.

The next two in the betting Uncle Junior and Outlaw Pete both have course and distance form and look to go off bigger prices than Arabella Boy.

The recommendation looks like being in an each-way play of New Story who was as big as 25/1 with william hill at the time of writing this. True the veteran has shown nothing on the course recently but this race might just bring out the best once more. Five appearances at this meeting have produced a win (in this race), a second, two thirds and a fourth. It has to be worth a chance that the specialist can produce one last performance.

The penultimate race of the afternoon is the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle with the market headed by Quevega. It looks impossible to oppose this wonderous horse as she looks to land this race for the fifth straight year. Bookmakers have Quevega around 4/6 (general) and as such I would recommend a look at the each-way markets in this race as the favourite looks tough to take on and at the time of writing no bookmaker had taken betting without Quevega.

I like the each-way chances of She Ranks Me from the Donald McCain yard. The trainer won this race way back in the first running with another novice in Whiteoak and the horse has a great record in hurdle races with four wins, three seconds and a third fron nine starts. At odds of around 25/1 (general) this looks a good solid each-way play.

The finale of the seven day card on Tuesday is the Novices’ Handicap Chase an open affair that is headed in the betting by Colour Squadron who along with The Druids Nephew, Shangani and Carlito Brigante is one of four horses priced in single figures. It is The Druids Nephew of the four who makes the most appeal to me. The horse looked impressive when winning comfortably at Wincanton last time out and saw off Grandioso who went on to win a couple of decent races subsequently. The horse was a solid sixth at the festival last year in the Albert Bartlett and looks the one to side with here.

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BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: The Druids Nephew EW in the Novices Handicap Chase (17:15)
SILVER: She Ranks Me EW in the Mares Hurdle (16:40)
BRONZE: A New Story EW in the Handicap Chase, Cross Country (16:00)

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12/03/2013     © Frixo 2024