Cheltenham: Cork connections worth a flutter at the Festival
Jockey Davy Russell and Mighty Potter win for trainer Gordon Elliott last month. Picture: Healy Racing
IT'S that time of the year again when we get ready to board our plane for Heathrow before travelling up the motorway for a festival of National Hunt racing.
Not easy to pick winners at a meeting where all trainers fancy their entries but after a few hours of study I have put together horses that I feel will all run big races at this magnificent venue.
The Supreme novice hurdle is always a tough race to find the winner of but I’m going to pick Marine Nationale.
In his last race, he landed the Royal Bond Grade 1 at Fairyhouse but this will be the toughest test of his career taking on the likes of Facile Vega, High Definition and Hunters Yarn.
The Barry Connell-trained horse is unbeaten on all starts so far and trainer Connell has made it very clear in interviews that this is the best horse he has trained and has consistently summed him up as a freak animal.
In the Arkle Novices Chase we have a repeat of a monster clash between El Fabiolo and Jonbon.
This pair clashed last year in a Grade 1 Novices hurdle at Aintree which saw Jonbon narrowly winning by a neck.
Since then both horses took to jumping big fences well and have been the best two-mile novice chasers in Ireland and Great Britain but my selection for the race is Jonbon.
The Champion Hurdle looks like it will be all about one horse and that is Constitution Hill as this gelding trained by Nicky Henderson is rated a whopping 173 but for a bit of value I fancy I Like To Move It trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies.
In the Mares hurdle is a great edition of racing as we have lots of class acts entered to run including Honeysuckle (dual champion hurdle winner) and Epatante also achieving the same accolade.
This could be the most exciting finish to a race on day one as six or seven have a really good chance but I am going to sway with defending champion Marie’s Rock trained by Nicky Henderson.
This Mare is already a superstar after making £230,000 winning 8 of 13 starts in Rules races.
Another good racing card on the second day with the Ballymore Novices hurdle and I’m going to pick the Willie Mullins-trained runner Impaire Et Passe.
This horse has impressed on his two starts for Mullins after he recruited him from France and is ready to make a big impression in this race.
Another horse that will run well at a bigger price is Champ Kiely as he’s already run against top opposition in Ireland and I think he is a great each-way bet.
In the Brown Advisory Novices chase, I like the favourite Gerri Colombe who will start favourite but I’m going to side with the Patrick Neville runner The Real Whacker as he ticks many boxes to win this race.
The Champion Chase is always a special one and is a repeat of the famous Clarence House Chase that took place in Cheltenham at the end of January.
Editer Du Dite came out on top just seeing off the late challenging Edwardstone while last year’s Champion chase winner Energumene bottomed out before the last fence.
After weighing up the pros and cons I am swaying with Energumene as I think Willie Mullins will change his tactics from the previous run.
The Champion Bumper is interesting but I feel Willie Mullins will win this as he has a very strong hand in the race so I’m going to go with his runner Fun Fun Fun who is a mare and a class act that will stay up the hill with her 7lbs mares allowance.
In the Turners Chase, the favourite Mighty Potter will be very hard to beat in this race after winning so impressively at the Dublin Racing Festival.
The Ryanair Chase will see Allaho absent with injury but after Shiskin’s performance three weeks ago at Ascot, I think he will be very hard to beat at a short price.
The Stayers hurdle will see my Nap Teahupoo put his best foot forward in this race as he was the first horse to beat Honeysuckle in the Hatton’s Grace last December in Fairyhouse.
