Our form expert has one selections remaining at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.
The Verdict: Friday, March 15
1pt e.w. Petit Tonnerre in 2.10 Cheltenham at 25/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6 bet365)
1pt e.w. Search For Glory in the 2.50 Cheltenham at 28/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4 bet365)
1pt e.w. Gerri Colombe in 3.30 Cheltenham at 10/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4 bet365, Paddy Power)
1pt win Answer To Kayf in the 5.30 Cheltenham at 8/1 (General, 9/1 Ladbrokes)
Gerri and the (Gold Cup) pacemakers
The Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup takes centre stage on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival and though Shishkin is unfortunately missing, and King George winner Hewick was taken out due to the soft ground, everyone else has turned up for a terrific renewal.
Galopin Des Champs is a short price to retain his title and he is the obvious standout in the race after bouncing back from two Punchestown defeats with two excellent Grade 1 wins in Ireland.
He could easily double up, but this year’s Gold Cup looks a deeper renewal and he has had a slightly different campaign, taking in an extra race after running in both the Savills Chase at Christmas and the Irish Gold Cup at the Dublin Racing Festival.
That 23-length defeat of GERRI COLOMBE in the Savills is the chief reason why we are getting a double-figure price about Gordon Elliott’s horse, but the Gold Cup looks much more up his street.
Galopin Des Champs was favoured by racing on the speed in a slowly-run race at Christmas, taking a wide route where he found better ground – unlike Gerri Colombe who had to come from off the pace on the worst of the conditions on the inside.
Previous to that he had won four Grade 1 races in his last five runs, finishing a short head second in the other, the Brown Advisory at last year’s Festival, where he only just failed to reel in The Real Whacker on the sharper Old course over three miles.
It was a run that screamed Gold Cup contender and he underlined that view both at Aintree in the Mildmay and at Down Royal in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase, where he beat Ryanair second Envoi Allen with a cosier win than the neck winning distance suggests. That was one of just two runs this season and I like his light campaign with his Gold Cup assignment in mind.
With several likely pacemakers in the field, including The Real Whacker himself, this looks a good set-up for him and he can improve greatly on his Savills run, which he will obviously have to.
His Savills effort was franked by the horses he beat to second, Capodanno and I Am Maximus, though, and with the extra two furlongs of the Gold Cup looking sure to play to his strengths, on ground he will love, he looks a fair each-way bet against the favourite.
The Verdict: Back GERRI COLOMBE in the 3.30 Cheltenham
Go for Glory in the Albert Bartlett
Earlier on, Elliott runs a couple for Gigginstown in the Albert Bartlett and SEARCH FOR GLORY is a big enough price at 25/1 to get involved.
Gigginstown have won this race twice before and have had four horses placed, no wonder when you think their modus operandi is investing in future staying chasers.
Search For Glory looks one such horse and he’s racked up the experience, having run nine times over hurdles, which has often been a key attribute in this contest such is the nature of the race.
Indeed, he ran in this race last year when he was pulled up, but he was lacking experience then and paid for a couple of errors. A tongue-tie and headgear have helped him improve his form subsequently and he’s run three good races over three miles in testing ground in cheekpieces this season.
Last time, in the Grade 3 Mercedes-Benz Novice Hurdle at Clonmel, he got an easy lead out in front and raced lazily, also jumping to his left at times, but he was strongest at the finish and he beat the odds-on Harvard Guy, a Willie Mullins horse going for a four-timer, decisively.
He clearly needs a test at the trip and I reckon he’ll be happier going left-handed, while anyone who saw him last time out will agree the first-time blinkers look a good idea.
It’s encouraging he won well in first-time cheekpieces, while Elliot has utilised first-time blinkers just twice before at the Cheltenham Festival – one of them being 25/1 winner Flaxen Flare in the Fred Winter.
This looks the right race for him and at a big price he can run well under stable jockey Jack Kennedy.
The Verdict: Back SEARCH FOR GLORY in the 2.50 Cheltenham
Petit punt in bid to land County bounty
It’s no wonder L’Eau Du Sud has assumed favouritism in the BetMGM County Handicap Hurdle given Dan Skelton’s superb record in the race (four wins) and his amazing week (four wins).
It’s hard to argue too much with the price of him or stablemate Faivoir, who won this race last year off just a 2lb lower mark, but the stable form has been factored into their prices and unfortunately the ship has sailed.
That’s not the case with Jonjo O’Neill’s PETIT TONNERRE, however, who looks worth getting on side at 25/1.
The six-year-old ran in this race last year when he was a staying-on seventh off a 4lb higher mark and he has always shaped like a strongly-run two miles in soft ground would bring out the best in him.
That was his ninth hurdles run and he hasn’t had one since, a novice chasing campaign not quite going to plan, but he has still shown a good level of ability despite his fencing not being up to scratch and he’s dead interesting reverting to hurdles.
O’Neill has had a couple of horses go close in the Coral Cup having reverted to hurdles from fences, Taquin De Seuil most recently, while the first-time visor evokes memories of his Holywell bolting up in first-time blinkers in the Pertemps Final.
The Verdict: Back PETIT TONNERRE in the 2.10 Cheltenham
O'Brien may have the Answer in lucky last
Finally, Terence O'Brien could land the final race of the Cheltenham Festival with ANSWER TO KAYF in the closing Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle.
Quai De Bourbon is the big whisper from Willie Mullins' yard here and is quite clearly respected, but he looks short enough at 7/2 and Answer To Kayf has solid claims himself at double the price.
He was a narrow second to Waterford Whispers, battling for favouritism with Quai De Bourbon, at Fairyhouse in December and races off similar terms, but he improved on that form at Limerick next time when he was a bit too keen over 2m7f before finishing a one-and-a-half length third to Loughglynn.
It's a race that has a rich history of providing Cheltenham Festival winners, including in the handicaps, and Answer To Kayf finalised his preparations for this race with a taking win dropped back in trip at Naas.
He jumped and travelled well that day, the fifth has franked the form since with a win, and he clearly relished the testing ground as you would expect for a son of Kayf Tara.
John Shinnick knows him well having been on board for five of his races including both of his wins, and he could be the one to shake up the Mullins hotpot.
Preview posted at 1605 GMT on 14/03/24
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