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Cheltenham racing preview: Alex Hammond on the big races
Check out the thoughts of our columnist on the weekend's big races and she has a 20/1 fancy on the Greatwood Hurdle.
One of the drawbacks of over 16 years of a 1.30am alarm is the long-term effect on your body clock. Hence, I find myself talking to you at 3 o’clock in the morning. Either that, or I have the “night before Christmas” syndrome that often arrives before any Cheltenham fixture!
Either way, I’m hoping to have unearthed a winner or two before I head off to Sky HQ for the afternoon.
So, we have three days of jump racing at one of the most magnificent sporting venues in the world to look forward to, but there has been understandable criticism about field sizes with some of the races cutting up badly.
None more so than Friday’s SSS Super Alloys Novices’ Chase which is now just a two-runner affair. You only need two horses to make a race, so let’s hope for clear rounds from both My Drogo and Gin On Lime, with bright futures ahead for both. Dan Skelton’s Grade One Mersey Novices’ Hurdle winner is making his chasing debut while Henry de Bromhead’s mare has the advantage of seven outings over fences which have already led to four wins.
Saturday’s feature is the Paddy Power Gold Cup and with 20 declared runners is considerably more competitive than Friday’s match. Unlike the Gold Cup, this two-and-a-half-mile affair is a handicap and therefore we need to find something that looks attractively weighted.
Lalor looks to be one such horse, but at 6/1 second favourite with Sky Bet it appears I’m not the only person who thinks so. He makes his debut for champion trainer Paul Nicholls. having had a wind operation, and with a tongue-tie fitted for the first time, there’s every reason to expect a revival from this one-time Grade One winner.
His handicap mark looks attractive owing to his form tailing off when we last saw him in action. He missed the majority of 2020 and pulled up in both his outings in the spring of this year, but his lay-off was the result of atrial fibrillation and pneumonia and with that now behind him, he should run a big race.
He isn’t favourite though, that honour goes to Dan Skelton’s Protektorat, who is 5/1 market leader. After two defeats at odds-on, he got his act together at the end of last season to win the Grade One Manifesto Novices’ Chase at Aintree and with strong Cheltenham form to his name, deserves his position as at the head of the betting. He’s only a six-year-old with just five starts over fences, but with top weight and at those odds, I’m happy to leave him alone in this.
Last year’s third Al Dancer is another horse on a retrieval mission but if new trainer Sam Thomas can get him back to his best, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with here. He’s a 7/1 shot.
Midnight Shadow has some classy form around Cheltenham and has the benefit of a run under his belt this season. His trainer Sue Smith is a relatively infrequent visitor to Prestbury Park, but if you’d backed all her runners over the years, you’d be in profit. This lad is 9/1 to win his first race since his victory in the Dipper Novices’ Chase at this track in January 2020 (albeit that was on the more testing New course and Saturday’s race is on the sharper Old course).
Fellow Sporting Life columnist and top jockey Daryl Jacob is looking forward to his ride on Caribean Boy and this 10/1 shot can go well on his seasonal reappearance having won on his first start last season. He has disappointed his supporters in the past, but this might be the time to catch him.
At a bigger price, Emma Lavelle’s Manofthemountain is one to keep on side and with Sky Bet paying SEVEN places his price of 20/1 appeals. He ran incredibly well for a long way at Chepstow on his seasonal debut, just going down to Paint The Dream in the end.
I felt that whilst he loved bowling along in front and he jumped particularly well, he may have gone fractionally too hard up front and paid the price in the end. However he races off the same handicap mark on Saturday and should be spot on for this.
As if that race isn’t tricky enough, we have the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at the track on Sunday.
Nicky Henderson’s No Ordinary Joe looks just that and moves into a handicap for the first time in this two-mile contest. He’s only had four starts to date and this is a very different test for a novice. He is also entered in the novice on Sunday but looks more likely to run here and certainly could look very well handicapped, hence he’s Sky Bet’s 5/1 favourite.
Dan Skelton’s West Cork has challenges to overcome himself, namely this is his first run since February 2020. Like most of us, he’s had a quiet time over the past 18 months! For obvious reasons he’s also lightly-raced, and this will be his sixth outing and his first in a handicap too. David Pipe’s Adagio may still only be four but he doesn’t lack experience and finished runner-up in both the Triumph Hurdle and Aintree’s four-year-old Hurdle back in the spring; not bad for a horse that was bought out of a claimer in France.
He’s going to have to be classy to win off top weight though (he also has the option of the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle in a couple of weeks). You’d be foolish to ignore anything from the Gary Moore yard at present and Haddex Des Obeaux is another potentially smart performer. Unlike the horses already discussed he is right down the bottom of the weights having been raised 8lbs for an easy win at Fontwell last time out on his handicap debut.
Tritonic failed to give weight to the pro,ising I Like To Move It over course-and-distance last time but wasn’t disgraced and now tries his luck in a handicap for the first time over hurdles. He’s streetwise from his career on the flat but needs to recapture his early juvenile hurdle form here.
However, in the quest to find some value, I’m going to take a chance on a 20/1 shot who’s stable is absolutely zinging along at present. Galice Macalo is trained by Jane Williams who is operating at a 29% strike rate at the time of writing. This mare is entitled to have come on for her solid reappearance run at Chepstow last month and the handicapper has left her on a mark of 131 for that effort.
Some smart novices hold entries in the Sky Bet Supreme Trial Novices’ Hurdle on Sunday. There have been future stars that have taken this race en-route to top level wins, none more so than 2015 winner Altior.
So, who can follow in his footsteps this weekend? The aforementioned I Like To Move It has started his season well and is two from two over hurdles. He’s learning on the job and is some way off being a slick, efficient hurdler just yet, but we’ll forgive him that at this stage!
Olly Murphy’s Washington is another exciting young horse who won on hurdles debut at Bangor last month to add to his two victories in bumpers.
Lorna Fowler sends Colonel Mustard over from Ireland and this chap brings high level form to the table having finished second in the Grade One Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in the spring. He won his maiden at Galway last month. Sonigino is entered and could make his British debut having joined Paul Nicholls from David Cottin in France.
So, a quality event that should gives us some valuable clues for the rest of the season.