Cheltenham Festival 2019 – March 13th, 2019
This is one of the big spectacles of the entire Cheltenham Festival and there is pretty much only the one story here. That is the unbeaten Altiro who is the reigning Queen Mother champion for trainer Nicky Henderson. He is one of the biggest Festival favourites at 2/5 to claim the victory* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on March 12th, 2019 at 6:35 p.m.).
Queen Mother Champion Chase Winner Odds*
Altior 2/5
Min 9/2
Sceau Royal 16/1
Politologue 25/1
Castlegrace Paddy 33/1
Gods Own 33/1
Saint Calvados 33/1
Hell’s Kitchen 33/1
Ordinary World 50/1
* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on March 12th, 2019 at 6:35 p.m.)
So Altior, will he defend the title? He has a perfect seventeen wins from seventeen outings over fences and hurdles throughout his career. This is one immense horse and he has already completed big Cheltenham Festival victories at the Supreme Novices, The Arkle and the Queen Mother Champions Chase.
Altior back and raring to go
Those wins were delivered in consecutive years as well. It’s phenomenal stuff and in those three dominant wins at the Festival, his average winning distance was 20 lengths. He was held back by injury last season so never really got to see the best of him, but his back and firing all on cylinders this season.
He has won all three outings at the Tingle Creek, the Desert Orchid Chase and the Clarence House Chance. He still looks to have plenty in the bag as well and given his rating he is going to take some stopping in the Queen Mother Champion Chase 2019. It could be another spectacular blow out by him.
Min back for another bite
Min is back for another challenge and is at even money in the Without Altior market* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on March 12th, 2019 at 6:35 p.m.). That looks as good of a bet as any. He was second to Altior in this one last season and given the rest of the quality in the field, looks a decent shot to get back into that position again.
Is he likely to have the beating of Altior? Highly unlikely but the Willie Mullins trained Min is the best of the bunch behind the favourite. Min is a very good two-miler. Sceau Royal has come into his best form ever ahead of the Queen Mother so may be a decent enough each way option at 16/1 odds* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on March 12th, 2019 at 6:35 p.m.).
He wasn’t a match for Altior at the Tingle Creek but has improved since then. Politologue skipped the Ryanair for this one, so his team most likely believe that he has a very good shot at getting in the top three. He hasn’t run over two-miles since last season’s Queen Mother, but the field in this renewal isn’t deep so may have a shot on the day at getting a place prize.
Prediction
There does not need a tremendous amount of thought in this one. If Altior runs the race he is capable of, then there is only going to be one winner. The best bet of all though is backing Min at that even money price in the Without Altior market* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on March 12th, 2019 at 6:35 p.m.). He’s the best two-miler out of everyone else and you know what you are getting from him.
