Ahead of the Cheltenham Festival, I wanted to pick out three tips that are very much in my thinking for the handicaps at 16/1, 9/2 and 6/1. Best of luck to whatever you back but these three will be in my thinking come next week at Prestbury Park!
The Ultima Handicap
Key stat: 12 of the last 12 winners of the Ultima have had at least one run at Cheltenham
Corach Rambler could end up trying to land a third win in this race and will be top weight were he to run here. Another thing to note is how strong the UK is in this one, with their chasers boasting a strong record. Meetingofthewaters for Willie Mullins and The Goffer for Gordon Elliott will be aiming to change that and on paper, the top half of the weights are dominated by Irish horses. One I will be keeping on side, should he run here, is Shan Blue. He had a lofty reputation back in the day and, whilst he won’t end up matching what some expected from him, Dan Skelton deserves credit for getting him back to being competitive in these top-level handicaps. I liked him at Ascot last time out when he was going nicely for most of the race. I think he will get the trip and the pace of the race should help him as he’s versatile on the ground and a mark of 143 looks fair for this 10-year-old by Shantou.
The Boodles Aka Fred Winter
Key stat: The last six winners were all trained in Ireland
You must go back to 2017 to find a UK winner of the ‘Boodles’ as its now known. Irish horses come to the front of the betting and my thinking here. Lark In The Mornin, regular followers of mine will know he has been marked out for this race by me for a while. I have tipped him on multiple occasions when he was a non-runner due to heavy ground. Cheltenham looks to have had the worst of the wet weather and will now get the chance to dry out. I think each day that happens, the better this fella’s chances become. Watch back his third to Highwind, who went on to contest a Grade One at the Dublin Racing Festival. A winner over a mile on the flat on soft, this horse looks to be ripe to land a big prize off a mark of 120. He will need to defy plenty of the trends, but on this occasion, I am happy to tip a horse who, due to the circumstances, didn’t get a fourth run over hurdles in.
The County Hurdle
Key stat: 9 of the last 12 winners carried 11 stone 1 or less in the weight.
The County Hurdle is a cracking race and recent rule changes have made it harder for novices to arrive at the handicap unexposed. Despite that, it is a novice hurdler I am keen to back here. King Of Kingsfield has impressed me all-season long, second on his first three starts over hurdles, he has certainly bumped into a few nice types prior to winning. These include Slade Steel who is a big hope to land either the Gallaghers or the Supreme. His third to Ballyburn at the Dublin Racing Festival showed a nice piece of form and his mark of 140 seems very fair. Whilst he has ended up the market leader, I think there is still some value in his current price.
*Odds subject to change
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