William Hill ambassador Barry Geraghty previews Day One of the Cheltenham Festival, picking out his best bets in each of the seven races.
Cheltenham, Tuesday
For any jockey there’s a relief in getting through the final day before the Festival, both yourself and your horses. A lot of the Irish jockeys finished up at Naas on Sunday, while some English jockeys will be riding today. Once those meetings are done, only then you’re ready for Cheltenham. Your season is judged on Cheltenham – the expectation, the anticipation, it’s four long, gruelling days. It is brilliant but it’s daunting, especially for the younger generation.
It’s hard to make a case against KOPEK DES BORDES in the Supreme (1.20pm). He was so impressive in Leopardstown, the only slight concern whether he can get through the preliminaries – he is very keen, he is fractious and he could be his own worst enemy. That’s the only way I can envisage him getting beaten. He is wearing a hood for the first time, which is interesting. It’s a race with a lot of depth. I thought Workahead was interesting, he’s got good form with William Munny from Leopardstown at Christmas and I know Henry de Bromhead’s very keen on him. At a fancy price, one of my horses to follow this season was Sky Lord, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him outrun his odds.
MAJBOROUGH looks tough to beat in the Arkle (2.00pm). he won the Triumph round here last year, so he has course form. He was good at Leopardstown and his jumping improved throughout the race. He’s just such an impressive individual. Unless something goes amiss for him, which always can in a novice chase, it’s difficult to see him beaten if he runs to anything like his best form. Perhaps Jango Baie might be his biggest danger, as L’Eau Du Sud looked to put in a laboured performance at Warwick last time.
The Ultima (2.40pm) is highly competitive as usual and you can make cases for lots of the field. The one I like, and have liked through the season, although he’s been a little disappointing of late is KING TURGEON. He was good when winning the Grand Sefton over two miles five furlongs at Aintree, jumping really well and showing a good attitude. He then won well at Cheltenham in December, beating Our Power. He wasn’t so good at Wincanton two starts ago, but I don’t think the sharp, flat track suited him. Similar comments apply to his run at Musselburgh last time, and he can be given excuses for those efforts. I think he’s a horse that relishes a test of stamina, and he could even be a National horse. I do think he’s very progressive and I’m happy to draw a line through his last few runs.
LOSSIEMOUTH will be part of many short-priced four folds on day one and it’s hard to look past her in the Mares’ Hurdle (3.20pm). She fell last time out at Leopardstown, which is very uncharacteristic, but she by far and away holds the strongest level of form here. This trip is ideal for her as well. There’s probably not an awful lot between many of the others; Jade De Grugy definitely has a big shout, but Joyeuse is the dark horse. She was such an impressive winner of the William Hill Hurdle at Newbury and she went up 13 pounds for that. There’s no reason to suggest she doesn’t have as much improvement in her again. She’s probably the value bet, for all it’s hard to oppose the favourite.
It’s brilliant that Brighterdaysahead is taking her chance in the Champion Hurdle (4.00pm), and likewise that State Man is back to defend his crown. It looks like this is going to be run at a very high tempo, with King Of Kingsfield a pacemaker for Brighterdaysahead and Burdett Road who likes to go forward too. It’s going to be a real test, but CONSTITUTION HILL relished that in the Supreme and broke the track record as a result. He put in a good performance at Kempton on his first run for 12 month and then likewise at Cheltenham on Trials Day, where but for a mistake at the last, he was foot perfect. I was blown away by the video of him schooling during the week – he just looked like a horse who was on springs. I was very excited when I saw him school and the vibe on his wellbeing is very strong. That to me suggests he is the Constitution Hill that broke the Cheltenham track record, and with the gallop that they’ll go, I think you’ll see a very big performance from him.
Lady luck plays a big part in the Fred Winter (4.40pm) as these are youngsters with limited experience and things need to go right on the day. I keep getting drawn back to STENCIL, who put in a great run behind East India Dock last time out. He showed good form in France too and is a horse with a lot of potential, and maybe even a graded horse in future.
The National Hunt Chase (5.20pm) is always a brilliant race, and is a mini Grand National if you like. The one for me is RESPLENDENT GREY, who was only three-and-a-half lengths behind Handstands at Sandown in December and Handstands franked that form when winning at Ffos Las and in the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Chase. Resplendent Grey has since had a run at Cheltenham over two and a half miles, which which should sharpen him up for this and it’s good just to get some course experience in. I would expect improvement from that stepping up in trip.
