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Cheltenham Festival – Who should you back?

Max GilesComment(0)

With the best four days of horse racing in the world beginning in just 11 days, these are three horses that have great chances of winning and putting money in punters’ pockets at the Cheltenham festival in the format of a nap, a next best and a best each way bet.

NAP: Old Park Star – 2/1

The first horse comes in the very first race of the week, the 13:20 Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, a race that has been won by greats such as recently retired (over hurdles) horse Constitution Hill, who set a course record for the race in 2022.

Old Park Star is a horse, like Constitution Hill, trained by veteran trainer Nicky Henderson. He has won the race five times, with two of those coming this decade with Shishkin in 2020 and Constitution Hill in 2022.

Stable jockey Nico de Boinville will be in the saddle and has steered him to victory in his last three races; his two most recent races were won on the bridle.

He won well at Cheltenham in November over the same two miles he’ll be running in the Supreme, winning by 13 lengths.

His most recent victory at Haydock is definitely the most impressive performance to date due to the opposition he faced. Hurricane Pat had won four of his last five races and had returned from a summer break even better than he went into it.

This victory meant his odds were slashed from from roughly 20/1 into 4/1 for the Supreme, and since then has been smashed in even more into 2/1.

The fact he is a course and distance winner, and that he hasn’t even needed to get off the bridle in his last two against well rated horses means it is impossible to go against Henderson’s best chance of the week.

Henderson even joked for Willie Mullins to ‘stay at home’ as he is that confident of his chances.

Dan Skelton’s Mydaddypaddy was a clear favourite for this race until Boxing day, when he was well beaten by Idaho Sun at Aintree. He will almost certainly be a player in the race, and his trainer has recently been bullish on the horse showing his best ever form, however Old Park Star is my nap of the week and the one to beat.

Next best: The Jukebox Man – 11/2

My next best chance for the Cheltenham Festival comes in the most famous race of the week; the Cheltenham Gold Cup and in the form of The Jukebox Man.

Last year’s race signalled the end for two-time winner Galopin des Champs, who was going for a third Gold Cup victory in a row, a feat which no horse has achieved.

He was well beaten by Inothewayurthinkin in a shock upset, but last years winner has been nothing short of poor this season, finishing fifth, ninth and taking a heavy fall in the last three.

It is relatively easy to rule him out of this race, and with a declining and ageing Galopin des Champs, this years feature is set to be the most wide open in years.

The Jukebox Man is owned by legendary Premier League manager Harry Redknapp, who has a great relationship with trainer Ben Pauling, and this horse has had nothing short of an exceptional season.

Ben Jones was aboard when the eight-year old won arguably the best horse race in recent years, and one of the big three races in the calendar in the King George.

The four way battle between The Jukebox man, Gaelic Warrior, Jango Baie and Banbridge was definitely the best race of the season so far, amongst the best horses the renewal had seen in a long time.

It says it all that the current Gold Cup favourite (although undeclared as of yet but potentially supplemented) Fact to File finished sixth of eight in the race for Willie Mullins.

This victory meant he was going to be a contender for the Gold Cup, and with Galopin des Champs being nowhere near it in his seasonal reappearance in Ireland, The Jukebox Man seems best suited to the race.

Ben Pauling seems to think he will be even stronger over the three mile trip ran at a fast pace, and his turn of foot when asked in his victory at Haydock in November was amongst the best I’ve seen all season.

He has also been rested since that gruelling King George in December, leaving him the best chance he could have in a Gold Cup that could be anyone’s for the taking, but based on what I’ve seen this season 11/2 is an irresistible price.

Each way bet: Wendigo – 8/1

Wendigo has entries to multiple races, but connections will feel that the Brown Advisory on the Wednesday will be the best chance of victory at Cheltenham for trainer Jamie Snowden.

This horse is a syndicate horse owned by The Racing Club and anyone can purchase a share in the horse for a fee of £99. This means that if the horse takes home any prize money, it will be divided out amongst the shareholders.

This years renewal seems pretty weak in comparison to previous years, with current 4/1 favourite Final Demand putting up a poor performance at the Dublin Racing Festival.

The Willie Mullins owned horse was well beat at odds of 2/7 and caused a major shake up in the betting market for this race, leading Wendigo to shorten from 14/1 to 8/1 after winning by 22 lengths in his prep run at Ayr.

His trip seems to be at least three miles, and is regarded by the yard as a very straight-forward horse who is improving by the day.

Other notable entries include Romeo Coolio at 7/1, who’s last run displayed guts and desire when beating Kargese at Leopardstown, albeit at a crawl.

It seems pretty clear however that trainer Gordon Elliott will target the Arkle if he was to run at the festival instead as the horse has not come close to three miles since returning.

Kate d’Authie has claims after winning at the Dublin Racing Festival under Mark Walsh, and Kitzbuhel is held in high regard in the Mullins yard despite unseating Paul Townend early on last time out.

The French horse has won over the trip when he did so on Boxing day at Kempton in smart fashion but will need to show some more composure to go close in a competitive race.

You can’t go too wrong with many of the horses entered for this race, but when looking at reliability and resilience Wendigo could definitely go close.

You can buy tickets to the Cheltenham Festival here:

Max Giles

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