The voice of racing men since 1998

Thursday, 1 March 2018

The Editor's Cheltenham Festival preview - part one

Tuesday  Supreme Novice Hurdle
Punter Entries   Apples Shakira,  Next Destination,  Samcro , Sharjah,  Act Of Valour, Debuchet,  Slate House,
As always a guessing game as to what runs where, Samcro would be very hard to beat if he runs here, but indications are he goes to the Ballymore instead. Apples Shakira has done wrong but not beaten much, Next Destination  won at Naas last time ,  Act Of Valour has been disappointing. Sharjah, was well behind Samcro last time but had looked useful before that, Slate House has been disappointing of late and  like wise Debuchet,.
Favourite with out Samcro is Getabird, but the one the editor likes is Harry Fry’s If the Cap Fits.

Arkle Chase, 
Punter Entries,  Footpad, Pettit Mouchoir, Sceau Royal,  River Wylde, Capitaine, Theo.
Footpad and Pettit Mouchoir stand out. It’s hard to give any chance to River Wylde, Capitaine or Theo, Sceau Royal has place claims at best.  Whilst Footpad is all the rage, I think Pettit Mouchoir can beat him on the day, and at 4/1 currently is a good bet.

Champion Hurdle
Punter Entries Buveur D’ Air, Faugheen,  Apples Jade,  Elgin, Min, Bapume.
Min is unlikely to run, Bapume probably won’t either, Elgin has place claims in what looks a weak race.  A lot depends if Faugheen can back to his very best, as Buveur D’Air looks the part but hasn’t beaten much yet. At 14/ 1 with the mares allowance I like Apples Jade if she takes her chance but she seems booked for the mares race instead.

Mares Hurdle
Punter Entries Apples Jade,  Lets Dance,  La Bagur Au Roi, Vroum Vroum Mag
Apples Jade is the stand out if she runs,  La Bague Au Roi would go close but I hope she runs in the stayers hurdle , Lets Dance would have a good shout if the front 2 don’t run, Vroum Vroum Mag has obvious claims if fully fit and as we know Mullins mares can win this with out a previous run.  Benie Des Diux has strong claims


RSA Chase
Punter Entries  Willoughby Court, Finians Oscar, Benatar, Mount Mews
 Benatar is due to run in the JLT, along with Finians Oscar, and I suspect Willoughby Court, and Mount Mews needs to find plenty to win this. Current favourite is Presenting Percy, but the one I like at 7/1 is Black Corton. He would have been in the editors string, but Paul Nicholls felt he was a summer horse and had basically done his job by mid October !  How ever as kept winning they kept him going and he has been a revelation.


The  John Torpey Memorial Trophy

                    February   Total
Cliff                      136.6          677.1
Martin                  119.4          675.5
Peej                   118.6              560.7
Steve                     57.4           540.64
Tony                    146.1           442.8
Cod                      115.6           434.5
Neil                      83.9            364.6
Bob                    120.5             289.3

Congratulations to Tony who is Trainer of the month for February


1 comment:

  1. Editor couldn’t pick his arse, let alone a winner !!

    ReplyDelete