DAY 2
A LONG AND AWAITED DAY 2 OF THE PREVIEW YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR. WELL SOME OF YOU ANYWAY!! (please remember I am writing this as if runners were still non-confirmed)
So with another free drink in hand courtesy of the lovely gentleman from the table in front who kept handing over a free drink token each time the glass was empty, we began to discuss CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL DAY 2
NATIONAL HUNT CHASE
The favourite at this time is none other than HARRY THE VIKING at 6/1 it has to be said this is a very very open race with a fair amount of money being put on the part owned Alex Ferguson animal and to be fair to HARRY i hope he stays as he is a wonderful beast who is one of my fav’s since following jump racing. [MW] started this discussion giving praise to the Mullins yard for ALLEE GARDE he’s done Cheltenham before last yr he was 9th behind BOBSWORTH he’s surely going to have improved since then and could be a good E/W bet, the ? as with most in this race is will he stay the 4 mile’s [SC] prefers TEAFORTHREE again a nice value price at the minute he’s ran further distance races than HARRY THE VIKING and may well be the value call for the race. [NL] mentioned ALFIE SPINNER who is a potential stayer, it’s a tough call this race but the 3 mentioned so far all have a definate shout of a place.
NEPTUNES INVESTMENT HURDLE
The whole panel liked my choice for this race in SIMONSIG he’s definitely bred for the trip it was agreed his jumping needs to improve but price dependent for a win or E//W he should be in the top 3, [MW] strongly likes BOSTON BOB who is another to put in a short priced multi bet, there are the layers who will be there as he does tend to prefer heavy ground, again this is a tough race to call but he’ll definitely stay the distance.
RSA CHASE
And so we come to the beast of beast races as it stands before the runners are confirmed, the amazing GRAND CRUS was the opener of discussion & I’ll be honest I love this horse, those of you who know me, know me well enough to know i dont back anything less than 5/1 odds and pretty much always do E/W bets, there was some doubt over which race G C would race in however [MW] felt Pipe should enter him for the Gold Cup, BOBSWORTH Is the obviuos danger to G C although [MW] isnt keen on how small he is and not convinced he’s a chaser however he did run a race to be praised when he placed behind King’s INVICTUS, a point also to bare in mind with BOBSWORTH is he’s faced GC before and did struggle in that race on boxing day. SIR DE CHAMPS was given a good word by all the panel with the lay of the race going to JOIN TOGETHER.
Kings INVICTUS has made it to my shortlist as a solid E/W L15 selction.
QUEEN MOTHER CHAMPION CHASE
Horses of 10+ don’t have a brilliant record at Cheltenham therefore no matter how good in form and great SIZING EUROPE may be the whole panel were against him on those stats even if he did win last year. He will have been primed and prepped for Chelts so I wouldnt put anyone off adding him to a multi bet he’s likely to be short odd’s to do so. Both [NL] & [ML] fancy FINIANS RAINBOW to give SIZING a good run for his money, with [MW] adding the BIG ZEB is geeting on & not being as good as he once was, with the potential value being in SOMERSBY who has beaten FINIANS by going off at too fast a pace previously to have won.
CORAL CUP
[SC] started with more of his fantastic stat facts stating that no horse rated higher than 147 had won this race this would instantly rule out the likes of FEATHERBED LANE or GET ME OUT OF HERE
THIRD INTENTION was given an E/W value option by [MW] with also OUR FATHER being in with a good chance if he races, the horse i’m interested if it goes in is DONALD MCcCAINS BOURNE this is an amazing animal who gave a fantastic performance at Ascot, also going on [sc] stats he’s rated lower than 147 so in my opinion has a massive chance of being in with a place at great value.
FRED WINTER
So we get to the race where I blurted out at the end of Day 1 my like for this race I was eager to see if any of the panel mentioned my pick of the runners, VENDOR was given the majority of the time during disucssion with [PB] saying “HE’S SURE TO RUN HIS RACE” although they all agreed his price was too short, there was a lot of admiration for the King yard with another of his runners FIRE FIGHTER also being given praise with a probable E/W shout, [SC] made a point of saying there were some well handicapped runners in this one and value could well be thrown up elsewhere, HINTERLAND has always placed at Cheltenham and is well worth a value 7/1 E/W
Did any of the panel mention the one I liked – no they didnt they’d already heard me mention it a little earlier but no-one gave Honeyball’s runner a mention who of 6 hurdle races has placed in 4 of those with 1 win, JACKIES SOLITAIRE if it runs will be my bet of the race.
CHAMPION BUMPER
Another large debate with the top 4 in the market all being mentioned with the market currently at the time being dominated by CHAMPAGNE FEVER & MOSCOW MANNO although the panel were not to keen on M M it was mentioned that Richard Johnson had said his chance of the festival was in VILLAGE VIC, [MW] gave FICKLE FORTUNE a good value E/W bet.
With the discussions turning to the audience Clive @kingofbumpers along with another menber of the audience caused a smile when they both fancied COOL GEORGE for the bumper.
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