Cheltenham Festival tips: Ben Linfoot's free Value Bet racing tips for day two of the 2020 Cheltenham Festival

Recommended Bets: Cheltenham Festival Day Two

1pt win Top Moon in 2.50 Cheltenham at 25/1

1pt win Eglantine Du Seuil in 2.50 Cheltenham at 20/1

1pt win Blacko in 4.50 Cheltenham at 16/1

1.5pts win Tronador in 4.50 Cheltenham at 9/1

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Nicky Henderson had a great start to the Cheltenham Festival on day one thanks to Epatante and Shishkin but his stable star Altior will not defend his crown in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday.

That’s a real shame and it robs the day two feature of the champion of the last two years, but we’ve still got a really good renewal thanks to emerging stars Defi Du Seuil and Chacun Pour Soi.

It’s a small-field Champion Chase and tactically it’s fascinating, as outsiders Bun Doran and Dynamite Dollars will likely force the issue with the big guns held up.

I can see a situation where Chacun Pour Soi travels best of all and trades odds-on in-running, but I do worry about him getting up the hill in testing ground and with that in mind Defi Du Seuil is taken to land a first Champion Chase for owner JP McManus.

It could be a good day for McManus and he has three of the top five in the betting for the Coral Cup (2.50) with Dame De Compagnie, Alfa Mix and Birchdale all trading at 12/1 or under.

However, it’s a McManus-owned outsider that catches the eye at the prices in the race with the Joseph O’Brien-trained TOP MOON available at 25/1 (General).

He looks a big price judging by his form over 2m4f and it’s worth remembering he didn’t finish out of the first two on his first five starts over hurdles this season, his only blip coming in the red-hot Ladbrokes Hurdle over two miles at the Dublin Racing Festival.

The five-year-old didn’t look to be suited by dropping back in trip as the speed horses did him for pace in the straight, but going back up to a stiff 2m5f on soft ground looks right up his street.

He stayed on powerfully to win at Cork over 2m4f in soft ground in October and then chased home Alfa Mix, a horse disputing favouritism here, at Navan on December 15 where he again shaped like a slightly sterner test of stamina would suit.

That rival and new owner-mate has improved since (he finished a good second back at Navan in January), but Top Moon gets a 7lb pull at the weights and the price differential looks too large.

The Navan race in which Alfa Mix and Top Moon fought out the finish has worked out well, as the fifth home Golden Jewel was runner-up in the aforementioned Ladbrokes Hurdle and the seventh home Cracking Smart won the Boyne.

Joseph O'Brien had Sempo as a possible for this race but was content in the end to saddle only Top Moon, who is unexposed and progressive at the trip. At a big price he’s worth backing.

I also want Willie Mullins' EGLANTINE DU SEUIL onside at 20/1 (General).

Grade One horses have come to the fore in this race in recent years when you think of Whisper, Aux Ptits Soins and Supasundae, and this mare has some very good top-level form in the book from last spring.

She was a good third to Reserve Tank in the Grade One Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown, beating horses like City Island and Easy Game comfortably over 2m4f and she did so on the back of a Cheltenham Festival win in the Mares' Novice Hurdle.

This season she ran behind stablemate Stormy Island a few times in small-field conditions races, but came alive in that same Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown where she looked the likely winner when coming with a storming run down the outside.

She got swamped in the final 50 yards and finished a close-up fourth in the end, but it was good to see her cope with a big-field handicap well and I like her stepping back in trip as well.

Last year she shaped like a real stayer when finishing well to land the Mares’ Novice and, even though she's 6lb higher than her Irish mark, she has the class to have a big say under Rachael Blackmore.

In the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (4.50) Gordon Elliott’s TRONADOR is a very interesting horse and is worth backing at 9/1 (bet365, Boyleports).

Elliott has had five Festival handicap winners using a three-runs-that-season prep and Tronador has received the same treatment, while 10 of the 15 Fred Winter winners have had just three runs over hurdles.

Sneaking in under the radar, in a handicapping sense, has been a pre-requisite and Tronador could well have been let in lightly off 129 considering his eye-catching third at Navan last time.

That was a small field race run at a sedate pace and it didn’t suit Tronador, but he finished well for third and he should be well suited by a big field and a strong gallop at this trip.

Elliott has won this race a couple of times, including with Veneer Of Charm for Tronador’s owner a few years ago. Mr Wasylocha’s mare had an identical mark of 129 and qualified by getting beat in the same Navan contest.

He also won it with Flaxen Flare who won in first-time blinkers, so it looks significant that Elliott introduces that headgear on Tronador for the first time over hurdles.

Off a low weight with Denis O’Regan in the saddle, Tronador looks the bet of the day.

However, I also want a saver on Alan King’s BLACKO as he looks a big price at 16/1 (General).

Two from two for King since he arrived from France, he’s beaten The Pink’n on a couple of occasions and that horse won well at Stratford on Monday.

It looks pretty decent form and Blacko did it very nicely at Warwick last time despite being keen in the early stages. The blood and thunder of a Fred Winter looks sure to help him settle better and consequently improve.

That Warwick contest has found the winner of the Fred Winter before – Hawk High, who won both races in 2014 – and, at 16/1, Blacko looks a likely player off a mark of 135.

Posted at 1700 GMT on 10/03/20

Ben Linfoot's Value Bet aim: The Value Bet is designed to generate long-term profit by searching for overpriced horses in the feature weekend races and at the big Festivals in the UK and Ireland. Running total: +336.39pts to advised stakes/prices (from inception of Value Bet column in January 2010 to current).

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