The form of the Musselburgh Pertemps Qualifier looks strong with the first three of CUP FINAL, WARRIORS TALE, and Taglietelle back for more in the main event this afternoon.
Nicky Henderson is in fantastic form and you can fully expect Cup Final to improve for his first run of the campaign. He goes in search of a repeat success and it looks like he will able to overcome a 7lb rise in the weights, and claim a hattrick of successess over the space of 450 days. He has good ground form behind Irving, finished behind Faugheen in a Neptune, and is extremely lightly raced for a seven-year-old. 10/1 looks a tidy price.
We tipped up Warriors Tale on his first hurdle start for Paul Nicholls and we are going to follow our money by backing him again. He is in receipt of a 4lb reversal in the weights with Cup Final for a 1.5 length defeat so the fact he is 2.5 times the prices seems odd. There should also be more improvement to come from him over hurdles.
His trainer said in his column that the fast ground will be no problem to him and given he was cruising at the 3m point in a 3m 2f race over soft, he should have plenty of stamina to get up-the-hill – which is an unknown.
He travels very strongly and at 25/1, seems a cracking each-way value bet. Sam Twiston-Davies takes the ride and he is in great form at the minute with a nice double at the end of the card on day two. Nicholls also had a nice victory in a handicap hurdle yesterday with Diego Du Charmil so the yard is in decent form.
1pt win Cup Final @10/1, 14:10 Cheltenham (skybet)
0.5pt EW Warriors Tale @25/1, 14:10 Cheltenham (betvictor, 1/4 odds, five places)