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 to date.

We now enter the strangest part of the National Hunt season, with the sport’s eyes on a certain week in March and many of its stars being wrapped in cotton wool or carefully assigned prep races.

Cheltenham Festival markets are beginning to take shape and, with betting accounts in credit, it’s about time we started building our ante-post portfolio for March.

Tuesday 15th March: Arkle Challenge Chase

After breezing to Grade 1 success at Leopardstown it’ll take something special to beat Douvan in March, so an ante-post play in this market might be daft.

L’ami Serge looked good on his fencing debut and has instantly been installed as a 10/1 second favourite, but the memory of last season’s Cheltenham flop lingers in the memory and I can’t see him reversing the form with Douvan.

Vaniteux looks an absolute natural over fences but, despite finding himself ahead approaching the last at Kempton, was beaten fair and square by our selection Ar Mad, who regained the initiative by putting in huge leap at the last to win in another very impressive time.

Two-mile chasing is about jumping at high speed and he certainly has the class to be an Arkle horse in a normal year, so the 16/1 offered by Boylesports right now is without doubt too generous.

Initially trainer Gary Moore said he wouldn’t run him left-handed, but he jumped straight as an arrow at Kempton and looks to stay two miles really well, so the race being at Cheltenham is not a big concern.

Tuesday 15th March: Champion Hurdle

Faugheen looked brilliant at Kempton – far more impressive than his Punchestown conqueror Nichols Canyon later that week – and it’d be madness to oppose him, so this market is closed in my eyes.

Wednesday 16th March: Queen Mother Champion Chase

It was good to see Sprinter Sacre confirm his return to form and we can tentatively rule out Sire De Grugy’s chance now, particularly as he’s off to Ascot next and won’t arrive at Cheltenham as fresh as his key opposition.

Un De Sceaux fell again which will leave a lingering doubt over his Festival chances, and his Arkle form is not working out so he’s certainly one to take on in March.

The form of Dodging Bullets’s win last season isn’t working out either, and time is running out to get him fit for his defence so 10/1 isn’t worth taking right now.

There was good news this week from the Henderson yard regarding sick note Simonsig, who is being prepared for a spring campaign and is currently 20/1 for this – which seems the obvious race for him.

It doesn’t sound like he’ll get a prep run in, which is a negative, but his reappearance at Aintree was encouraging and I’d recommend snapping up anything bigger than 25/1 on Betfair’s Exchange.

Thursday 17th March: World Hurdle

We tipped both Thistlecrack ahead of the Long Walk Hurdle and Camping Ground ahead of the Relkeel Hurdle; both p***ed up to land the odds.

Consensus is last year’s renewal was a poor one and reigning champ Cole Harden, who is not without ground excuses, has an awful lot of ground to make up on both named rivals on this season’s evidence.

We don’t yet know how ground dependent Camping Ground is whilst, in contrast, Thistlecrack won a Grade 1 at Aintree on spring ground.

The former certainly appreciates Cheltenham, though, whilst Thistlecrack was well beaten on his sole appearance at the track, so the 10/1 about Camping Ground looks worth a bite – if he lines up he’ll be far shorter.

Albert Bartlett winner Martello Tower also made his seasonal reappearance on heavy ground at Leopardstown and ran okay in defeat.

He’ll certainly improve for the run – as he did last season – and shouldn’t be discounted on that effort as the form of his Festival win has received several boosts this season, particularly from multiple-Grade 1-winner and RSA Chase-favourite No More Heroes.

Again, Cheltenham form is a big plus and 25/1 looks very kind right now and worth taking – again, check Betfair for bigger prices.

Friday 18th March: Cheltenham Gold Cup

A real shame Coneygree will miss this season’s renewal, leaving the door wide open for his long queue of pretenders.

4/1-shot Djakadam remains my most likely winner, but there’s absolutely no point betting now at such prohibitively short odds.

Vautour, the brilliant dual-Festival winner, was the horse to take out of the King George as better ground, going left-handed and his trainer’s knack of getting his horses to peak in March bodes very well.

Paddy Power went a whopping 16/1 after the race, which I’m regretting not taking as it was quickly gobbled up, and now into 10/1 he still looks generously priced.

Don Cossack was still bang in there when falling at Kempton and will also be better for spring ground, but he’ll have to tidy up his jumping to win a Gold Cup so the 11/2 about at the time of writing looks fair.

1pt win Ar Mad @16/1 with Boylesports, Arkle Challenge Chase
0.5pt win Simonsig @20/1 (various), Queen Mother Champion Chase
1pt win Camping Ground @10/1 (various), World Hurdle
1pt win Martello Tower @25/1 (various), World Hurdle

1pt win Vautour @10/1 (various), Arkle Challenge Chase

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