Cheltenham Festival Day 2 - Part 1

Here is the first of our three part guide to the action Wednesday on day two of Cheltenham as the thrill and spills of the Festival continues.

Action gets underway at 1.30 with the John Oakesy National Hunt Chase (Amateur Riders’ Novices’ Chase). Willie Mullins has the two front runners in the market with Back in Focus and Boston Bob. Both horses enter in great form with the former winning his last three and the latter winning six of his last seven including each of his last two. As of writing it was unconfirmed which jockey would be on which horse with Ruby Walsh having partnered both in the past. It might then pay to keep an eye out on this news if you were between both of these horses for your selection. Those looking outside these two will see the third in the market is Buddy Bolero from the David Pipe yard while Rival D’Estruval and Merry King both have single figure quotes.

Those who like to follow the trends will want to cross any younger runners out as just one from the last 64 placings from this race have gone to a horse in this age group. Older horses also can be discounted with just one winner since 1997 being aged ten years or over. Another important consideration is to look for horses who did well last time out with only two of the last 29 winners failing to finish in the top four on their last run and eight of the last 11 winners finished in the top two last time out. In addition all ten of the last ten winners have run at least three times over the fences.

The Alan King trained Godsmejudge is the recommendation here. At the time of writing some firms had this horse still available at 10/1 and this looks a decent each-way prospect on a solid jumper who can stay all day.

The second race of the afternoon is the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle that has served as a great race for those looking to the future at Cheltenham and across the National Hunt season. Former winners of this race include Rock on Ruby, Istabraq and Hardy Eustace while the likes of West Tip, Denman and Inglis Drever have all showcased themselves here.

This year Pont Alexandre is the strong favourite at no bigger than 7/4. The Willie Mullins runner has notched three comfortable wins from three previous outings and looks a real one for the future. The horse is the undoubted class act in the field though I will leave it upto you whether you feel comfortable or not taking that price on a horse who does not have course experience. I have already tipped up Champagne Fever in the Supreme though the horse still holds an entry for this race and if goes here and not on Tuesday then is one I would consider backing it in this.

I am interested in The New One who was 9/2 at time of writing which looks a good price on a horse that unlike Pont Alexandre has experience at the course and has registered three wins from four starts over the hurdles. At a much bigger price I like the look of Sizing Gold from the Henry De Bromhead yard. The horse was second only to Pont Alexandre last time out at and has a career hurdles record of one win and three seconds. Quotes of around 33/1 represents decent each-way value.

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BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: The New One, WIN in the Neptune Novices’ Hurdles (14:05)
SILVER: Godsmejudge, EW in the National Hunt Chase (13:30)
BRONZE: Sizing Gold, EW in the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle (14:05)

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13/03/2013     © Frixo 2024