Cheltenham Festival – Day 2
Day 2 of the Cheltenham festival kicks off with Turners Novice Hurdle, Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase and the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Set to be a competitive day of racing but some unfortunate news this week that Marine Nationale will not be taking part due to injury.
Turners Novice Hurdle
The Turners Novice Hurdle is always a competitive race which is slightly longer than the supreme being 2m5f long therefore, requiring those with slightly more stamina. No Drama This End is thought of very highly by Nicholls and has been unbeaten over hurdles so far. He has looked as though he has improved with every run and found it all very easy, Cheltenham is likely to suit him to so it’s not hard to imagine he’ll be involved in the finish here.
However, it’s hard not to get excited about Mighty Park as Willie Mullins doesn’t have enough superlatives for him. He’s only ran the once over hurdles but Mullins thinks he’s very special and has even compared him to Faugheen which tells all. Only having the one run over hurdles could be a concern but Mullins must like what he sees and the fact he beat 124 rated hurdler Roc Dino by 38L on debut proves the ability he has. Therefore, is the most likely winner of the race. There are rumours he may miss the festival all together but if they do that just proves how much they think of him and how much they don’t want to risk anything if he’s not ready. If he goes there 100% he’s the winner for me.
Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
Perhaps one of the trickiest races of the whole festival the Browns Advisory had been blown wide open a few weeks ago when Final Demand lost by over 12L when the 30/100f at the start of February. He was far from impressive, however, people have kept the faith and he is still the 7/2 fav for the race. Kaid d’Authie (who beat him that day) is still 6/1 for the race and so thoughts are Final Demands run was too bad to be true.
After the form Final Demand was in, it’s hard to imagine his last run was his true showing and so he still looks the one to beat if he runs to his actual ability. Horses that had tough races such as Romeo Coolio may be best to steer clear of as it may have taken a toll on them.
An alternative to Final Demand could be the mare The Big Westerner as she gets mare allowance of 7lb which is very beneficial over a longer trip like the 3m1f here. She’s a big mare and was impressive last out. She’ll improve from that and will also appreciate the step up in trip. Perhaps more rain will suit here but she has the class to take this race and at e/w prices she’s a good bet.
Queen Mother Champion Chase
The fast 2m chasers take each other on and this contest looked a lot more appealing before Marine Nationale had to be withdrawn from the race due to injury. On paper, this looks like a penalty kick for Majborough as he seemed to have sorted his jumping problems when cheekpieces were applied last time. He won by 19L against what would’ve been his hardest rival in this race. However, Majborough is unpredictable as often this race can be and so an e/w angle may be more sensible.
Jonbon is currently 12/1 NRNB and so if he does not run it’s no issue, but if he does run you have a horse that has never finished outside the top 2 at 12/1. He does have his issue with the Cheltenham Festival but he is all class and has proved he can still compete at this level. If Majborough is off his game on the day, the race is blown wide open and consistent Jonbon could well be there to pick up the pieces.
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