And just like that, it’s Gold Cup day. Normal service was restored at Cheltenham on Thursday as Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins notched a four-timer to refill wounded punters’ pockets, whilst the Irish dominance of this Festival continued. They had never won the Prestbury Cup before Any Currency’s disqualification gave…
0.75pt each-way Sizing Codelco @14/1; 0.75pt each-way Village Vic @16/1, 16:10 Cheltenham, Thursday
A horrible race for novice chasers in recent years, and although Diamond King will come in for plenty of support given his yard’s form, his price is a rather uninspiring 5/1 in a hugely competitive handicap and, unless he figures in doubles/trebles, it could pay to look elsewhere. He had…
1pt each-way treble: Yorkhill (13:30), Unowhatimeanharry (15:30) and Let's Dance (16:50) @14.84 with SkyBet
On Cheltenham’s Thursday card last year, Vautour, Thistlecrack and Limini all won by substantial margins to smash the bookies in one of the most obvious trebles in recent memory. They say you shouldn’t tip a treble made up of short prices to try and enhance those odds towards something backable,…
0.5pt each-way Alary @33/1, 14:50 Cheltenham, Thursday
Gordon Elliott’s shadow has crept up on Willie Mullins’s domestic champion trainer hopes this season, but few would have predicted the contrast in fortunes between the two at this year’s Cheltenham Festival – a meeting Mullins has farmed in recent years – with Elliott running away with the race to be…
1pt win Divin Bere @13/2, 0.75pts each-way Dreamcatching @12/1, 16:50 Wednesday, Cheltenham
DIVIN BERE could be very well-handicapped on the basis of his neck-victory over the current Triump Hurdle favourite, Masterblueyes. It’s hard to ignore that form, which was his first for the Nicky Henderson yard. He was an experienced hurdler in France and is perhaps more battle-hardened than his UK excursions would…
1pt win Might Bite @4/1, 14:10 Cheltenham, Wednesday
Nicky Henderson had two winners yesterday, including the feature race with Buveur D’Air, and he’s got a really strong hand in today’s Grade 1 RSA Chase, run over three miles with the going good-to-soft. Despite being notably weak in the market, his MIGHT BITE has been favourite for this race all…
1pt win Singlefarmpayment @15/2; 0.75pts each-way Ibis Du Rheu @12/1, 14:50 Cheltenham, Tuesday
Un Temps Pour Tout returns for a second crack at the Ultima Handicap Chase, the first handicap of the festival. He comes into this off the back of some very indifferent chase form this season, and, unless David Pipe can rekindle a somewhat unlikely revival, he looks quite vulnerable off…
1pt each-way Buveur D'Air @5/1, 15:30 Cheltenham, Tuesday
There are many great races in the racing calendar, yet it’s the Champion Hurdle on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival I look forwards to the most each year. The very best two-mile hurdlers from Britain and Ireland – or at least those who have avoided sick leave – go head-to-head at…
1pt win Melon @3/1, 13:30 Cheltenham, Tuesday
In racing’s equivalent of Christmas eve, we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s Cheltenham Festival opener: the SkyBet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle won last year in an exceptional renewal by the brilliant Altior. While Altior will be going for Arkle glory in the second race on the card at odds of 1/3, the…
1pt win Fox Norton @14/1 NRNB, Ryanair Chase
Unfortunately our ante-post pick for Thursday’s Ryanair Chase, Ar Mad, has been ruled out of the Festival through injury, which means his Sandown conqueror Un De Sceaux has tightened into 5/2 favouritism. There’s a messy market behind him with second-favourite Empire Of Dirt possibly set to replace his injured teammate Don…