As the media noise around the Cheltenham Festival bubbles and the form book gradually takes shape, ante-post prices fluctuate and we’re keeping a keen eye on the prices of our selections. Tombstone @20/1 (now 16/1), Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Tuesday 15th March As predicted, the 20/1 didn’t last too long and he’s…
1pt win Sceau Royal @16/1, Triumph Hurdle, Cheltenham 18th March
One Festival market that’s not really taken shape yet is the Friday’s Triumph hurdle, where the well-named Ivanovich Gorbatrov trades ante-post favourite for the latest O’Brien to the training ranks, ex-Irish champion jockey Joseph. After a solitary facile success in a Leopardstown maiden, his horse trades a 7/2 favourite whereas it’s…
1pt win Fine Rightly @5/1, 1pt EW Los Amigos @12/1, 15:00 Leopardstown
Blood Cotil returns from a 261 day break in an attempt to win a race previously conquered by the likes of Foxrock and He’llberemembered. Mullins’s charge finished off last season strongly and there could be much more to come this season having largely disappointed as a novice. Top-weight and a…
1pt win De Kerry Man @8/1, 1pt win Midnight Prayer @9/1, 15:35 Warwick
The Classic Chase at Warwick looks a wide-open contest with several horses racing under a penalty for their last outing. Sego Success has a 7lb rise in the weights to contend with but looked in great nick when winning on his chase reappearance at Doncaster over 3m. Alan King thinks…
1pt win Thomas Hobson @6/1, 0.5pt each-way Ballagh @16/1, Warwick 15:00
Warwick hosts a nice card today with the Grade-2 Leamington Novices’ Hurdle attracting two Irish raiders from the all-conquering Mullins yard. Neither are favourite as that accolade goes to the Skeltons’ Born Survivor, who won well last time out in a race where the second has since bolted up to…
1pt win Tombstone @20/1, Supreme Novices' Hurdle, Cheltenham 15th March
To the delight of punters, for the past three years the Cheltenham Festival’s curtain raiser, the two-mile Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, has gone to Rich Ricci, Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh. For the same connections and long before he’d even raced outside France, Min has headed the market for the 2016 renewal.…
0.5pt ew Borak @14/1, Chepstow 14:20
High-class racing is in thin supply today with the only expected influencer of Cheltenham Festival markets being Rich Ricci’s Min, who advertises his Supreme Novices’ credentials at a prohibitively short price at Punchestown. In Britain, the rescheduled Welsh Grand National is the feature race of a card that also features the…
1pt win Cogry @9/1, 1pt win Tour Des Champs @16/1, Coral Welsh Grand National, 13:45 Chepstow
As is the norm for this time of year, the Welsh Grand National will be run in bottomless conditions and represents a great punting opportunity. In recent years it has paid dividends to side with a horse that loves cut in the ground, races off less than 11st and is…
Five Cheltenham Festival ante-post selections
And so concludes a busy and successful festive period of National Hunt fixtures from both sides of the Irish Sea. December was a difficult month but Thistlecrack, Coney Island, Douvan, Ar Mad and Camping Ground all scored in Fergie time to bring our lifetime total to +114.44pts – our highest mark…
1pt win Camping Ground @10/1, Cheltenham 15:05
The decision to move this Grade 2 hurdle from the December meeting has been rewarded with a cracking renewal featuring an ex-Gold Cup hero, the reigning World Hurdle champ, a two-times Liverpool Hurdle winner and some progressive young pretenders. Even better – from a punting perspective – is the likelihood Cole Harden…