It may yet be months away, but already the attention of both hardened and fledgling horse racing punters is turning towards the Cheltenham Festival, which will run from March 14-17.
Cheltenham retains its place as the most prestigious meeting in the National Hunt calendar and with good reason: a myriad of Grade 1 winners are crowned and millions of pounds paid out in winnings each and every year.
Good news: it just so happens that the 2016 edition was a particularly lucrative one for punters. Many of the meeting’s key races, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Mares Hurdle, Champion Hurdle and Arkle Trophy, were all won by their respective favourites, with Don Cossack (9/4), Vroum Vroum Mag (4/6), Annie Power and the incomparable Douvan (1/4) all romping home first to secure healthy paydays for bettors and, for once, make a dent in the profit margins of bookmakers. Cheers to that!
Let’s just hope that 2017 proves to be equally as profitable….
Tizzard’s Crack at Gold Cup Glory
Many of the ante post markets for Cheltenham 2017 have already been opened, and while the confirmed list of runners and supplementations is a long way off being announced, already a mouth-watering field for the festival’s feature renewal, the Gold Cup, is being readied.
Heading the early market is Thistlecrack, the outstanding eight-year-old trained by Colin Tizzard. That comes as no great shock given that he has won each of his last eight starts, including the competitive Ryanair World Hurdle at last year’s meeting. This is a horse with Cheltenham success in his blood, and the 7/2 currently available looks a calculated risk given Tizzard’s well documented love of the horse and the Gold Cup in general.
With a total prize pool in excess of £500,000, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Gold Cup remains the standout renewal of the festival, and as such a high quality field is assured. The likes of Cue Card, Coneygree and Don Cossack all have prior Grade 1 victories to their name, so the 2017 renewal should be an absolute belter.
At 6/1, it is perhaps Cue Card who offers the best betting value. He was hugely impressive in taking the honours in November’s prestigious Betfair Chase in heavy conditions; dismantling the hopes of Coneygree in a 15-length triumph. With this ten-year-old and Thistlecrack at his disposal, Tizzard has some pretty impressive weapons to fire at Gold Cup glory.
Best of the Rest
There are quality encounters throughout the week at Cheltenham, that is part of its charm, and even at this early stage the momentum is building rather nicely.
Altior and Min look set to lock horns once again in the Arkle Trophy just 12 months after claiming the 1-2 in the Supreme Novices Hurdle, while in the Queen Mother Champion Chase a rather intriguing battle between the remarkable Douvan, he of eleven wins in as many starts, and Tingle Creek winner Un De Sceaux looks likely.
The French horse may yet feature in the Ryanair Chase, with Douvan also featuring prominently in the market, and this just goes to highlight the potential pitfalls of ante post betting.
Willie Mullins may decide to offer Annie Power the chance to retain her Champion Hurdle crown, with Faugheen and Vroum Vroum Mag potential opponents according to the ante post reckoning, although the latter may yet go again in the Mares Hurdle. Perhaps leaving her out of your early staking plan is wise.
A step up in distance has served Bellshill well so far, and the six-year-old is likely to enjoy the three-mile stretch of the RSA Chase as a result. With the Mullins-Ruby Walsh partnership in tow, the 8/1 appears value here already.
There are a number of who’s, why’s, where’s and how’s yet to be answered, but one thing that is for sure is that the Cheltenham Festival of 2017 is already shaping up to be an absolute classic.