Day one of the Cheltenham Festival arrives and every punter in the land is feeling optimistic. After all, they haven’t backed a single loser yet and this could just be the year where they back a string of winners that allows them to retire at the age of 37 and finally tour the vineyards of France.
The Tuesday has remained full of quality races despite the Festival stretching from three days to four days and we get up and running with a cracker!
Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – 1.30pm
This is a popular race for betting as a) punters have a full betting balance and b) the excitement of the Cheltenham Festival means there is only one thing to do – have a punt! Dunguib was the strong favourite last year and got beaten – can this year’s favourite fare any better?
Well, Cue Card is highly rated and the connections considered running it in the Champion Hurdle which might explain why bet365 make him the 9/4 favourite. Finishing second to Menorah in December was pretty impressive and it’s about time the jolly won this race.
Spirit Son (7/1 Paddy Power) and Sprinter Sacre (8/1 Ladbrokes) are the horses expected to present the stiffest challenge, although Recession Proof (10/1 Ladbrokes) has been popular with punters in recent weeks.
Irish Independent Arkle Chase – 2.05pm
We all enjoy a good Arkle and there are three horses vying for favouritism at this early stage of proceedings. Medermit has been the subject of a decent gamble in recent weeks and the horse is now 9/2 with bet365 to win the race, with trainer Alan King sounding very bullish about his chances.
Indeed, King has gone as far as to say the horse is his best chance of saddling a winner at the Cheltenham Festival, although he has stiff opposition in the form of Finian’s Rainbow (5/1 Sportingbet) and Ghizao (9/2 bet365).
Finian’s Rainbow has an unbeaten record over fences and won the Kingmaker Novices’ Chase in early February, although doubts persist over the horse’s jumping and Cheltenham is a place where mistakes can be quite costly.
Ghizao is a Paul Nicholls-trained horse that will be ridden by Timmy Murphy and it is easy to see why he is among the favourites to win the race. He has won two of the three races contested this year and should go well if the ground isn’t too quick.
There are plenty of other lively contenders, with Captain Chris (14/1 Paddy Power) having run well this season and Starluck (16/1 Ladbrokes) likely to have the experienced AP McCoy on board.
