Key events
Coral Cup (2.50pm)
A false start … trying to get them all in a line ain’t easy … and they’re off … Red Risk leads and Elvis Mail unseats his rider at the first … Watch House Cross pulls himself into the lead … Run For Oscar is at the back … Riaan and Camprond are prominent with a circuit to go … Beacon Edge is in midfield with Langer Dan …
Market movers for the Coral Cup (2.50pm)
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HMS Seahorse 16/1 ante-post, 9/1 this morning into 6/1
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Langer Dan 12/1 into 9/1
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Sa Fureur 25/1 into 9/1
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Full details via Oddspedia
Scenes as the owners of The Real Whacker urge him home!
Coral Cup (2.50pm) betting
Coral Cup (2.50pm) preview
Greg Wood
This is one of the trickiest events of the meeting, with just one successful favourite in the last 19 runnings and winners at 50-1, 33-1, 29-1 and 20-1 in the last five years alone. There has also been a fairly even split between British- and Irish-trained winners, which makes it even more difficult to narrow things down, with five apiece over the last 10 years, although Ireland have had 98 runners in that time against the home team’s 159. The Irish field most of the fancied runners today too, including Captain Conby, who has been backed down to favourite in the current betting at 8-1, and Run For Oscar, from the super-shrewd Charles Byrnes stable, who landed the Cesarewitch at Newmarket in October and has had just two quiet-but-promising runs since.
📊 The most backed for the Coral Cup over the past 24 hours (% of total stakes)
1️⃣ HMS Seahorse 8/1 (10%)
2️⃣ Captain Conby 17/2 (10%)
3️⃣ Beacon Edge 14/1 (10%)#CheltenhamFestival— oddschecker Racing (@oddsRacing) March 15, 2023
Michael O’Sullivan, who leads the jockeys’ standings after a double on day one, is aboard Beacon Edge for Noel Meade, while HMS Seahorse is also attracting support to give Paul Nolan a fourth Festival winner. Good Risk At All, meanwhile, could be the best of the British-trained runners, as he attempts to land a first Festival winner as a trainer for Sam Thomas, whose greatest moment in the saddle came aboard Denman in the 2008 Gold Cup. I’m going with the Irish, though, and an each-way stab at Joseph O’Brien’s San Salvador at around 16-1. If Captain Conby is anything like an 8-1 shot, then San Salvador should be roughly the same price, as he beat the favourite by nearly two lengths at Punchestown in December and is just 4lb worse off today. Both horses were put away after that run, presumably with today’s race in mind.
SELECTION: San Salvador
Brown Advisory Novice Chase (2.10pm) result
1 The Real Whacker 8-1
2 Gerri Colombe 5-4f
3 Bronn 50-1
Brown Advisory Novice Chase (2.10pm)
And they’re off … The Real Whacker leads with Bronn close up in second and the well-backed Gerri Colombe close up in fourth … Sir Gerhard is out the back in the early stages … Thyme Hill is in midfield … Adamantly Chosen is towards the rear too … On the home turn for the first time there’s little change in the order with nothing having made a serious mistake … Galia Des Liteaux is near the leaders … Sir Gerhard is making good progress … and Thyme Hill is finding his jumping coming under pressure … Bronn and The Real Whacker lead into the straight … The Real Whacker leads on the run-in but Gerri Colombe is finishing fast and it’s a photo! The Real Whacker has won, having led all the way!!!
There’s news on where the money has been going before the Brown Advisory Novice Chase via our friend at Oddspedia.
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Sir Gerhard 6/1 into 3/1
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Thyme Hill 11/1 into 8/1
Well that was interesting in the light of Paul Nicholls’ comments before the first race. Hermes Allen’s rider Harry Cobden asked on ITV Racing after the Ballymore about the favourite’s disappointing run in fifth said: “[That was] a stop and start race … tactics from Willie Mullins!”
Brown Advisory Novice Chase (2.10pm) betting
Brown Advisory Novice Chase (2.10pm) preview
Greg Wood
An unbeaten favourite at odds-against could well prove irresistible for many punters here, as Gerri Colombe, who is seven-from-seven under Rules, steps up to the three-mile trip which his latest win in the Grade One Scilly Isles Chase suggests he is screaming for. He is several pounds clear of his field on ratings in any case on his form at two-and-a-half miles, and he will take all the beating at around 5-4.
The obvious danger is Sir Gerhard, who would complete the remarkable treble of landing a Grade One race at three different Festivals, and in a bumper, a hurdle and a chase, if he can overcome Gordon Elliott’s runner, along with Patrick Neville’s The Real Whacker, who landed the same novice chase at Cheltenham’s New Year’s Day meeting that L’Homme Presse took on his way to victory in this race last season. Neither horse’s form has reached the level of Gerri Colombe’s, however, and nor do they look quite so likely to improve for this extended three-mile trip.
SELECTION: Gerri Colombe
Ballymore Novice Hurdle (1.30pm) result
1 Impaire Et Passe 5-2
2 Gaelic Warrior 9-2
3 Champ Kiely 13-2
Ballymore Novice Hurdle (1.30pm)
And they’re off … Champ Kiely kicks clear by three or four lengths at the off … Hermes Allen is close up in second as they move towards the third hurdle … Persian Time is at the back and they are well strung out as they go past the stands with a circuit to go … American Mike is close up in third with Impaire Et Passe getting closer … Ho My Lord makes a mistake … Good Land is in midfield … at the fourth last Hermes Allen takes a narrow lead … Good Land is a lot closer … Champ Kiely is taken over by Impaire Et Passe who goes four lengths clear and strides home for an easy win for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend. In fact Mullins has the first three home. A “greenwash” in the opener!
“I think tactics might play a part in this race … just watch,” says Paul Nicholls, trainer of Hermes Allen in the opener, on Racing TV. He points out his horse likes to bowl along in front but might not be able to do today though he then says he’s sanguine about that.
The lucky Aintree racegoers will be next to see brilliant Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill as it’s confirmed the horse has come out of Tuesday’s race well and will be lining up for the big hurdle race on the Thursday of the Grand National meeting.
The Aintree Hurdle looks the likely next slot for Constitution Hill, who has come out of his Champion Hurdle triumph in good shape according to trainer Nicky Henderson
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) March 15, 2023
There’s news on where the money has been going before the Ballymore Novice Hurdle. Oddspedia spokesperson Callum Wilson reports: “There’s two market movers queuing up behind Impaire Et Passe at the top of the market, with the Mullins horse drifting from 6-4 out to 2-1 this morning. Hermes Allen has been cut in from 9-2 into 3-1 and Gaelic Warrior is also proving popular with punters after shortening from 7-1 into 5-1. Money is also coming for Champ Kiely – cut from 9/1 into as short as 15/2 ahead of the curtain raiser for day two of the Cheltenham Festival.”
Ballymore Novice Hurdle (1.30pm) betting
Ballymore Novice Hurdle (1.30pm) preview
Greg Wood
The home team registered two winners on Tuesday’s opening card, but this is the day when things could get seriously ugly for British stables and if there is to be any let-up in the tide of Irish winners, this opener probably needs to go Hermes Allen’s way. The good news for supporters of Paul Nicholls’s runner is that he is unbeaten, notched a very cosy Grade One win in the Challow Hurdle last time out and looked very much as if he had plenty more to come. The bad news is that the money has been coming for Willie Mullins’s Impaire Et Passe all week, to such an extent that he is now a clear favourite, and a market move like that generally means only one thing.
Unlike Hermes Allen, though, he has yet to win at Grade One level, and there are several more runners in the field, including two more Mullins-trained hopefuls in Gaelic Warrior and Champ Kiely, that have achieved just as much to date. The Irish challenge has extra depth in the form of Barry Connell’s Good Land, and the trainer has been almost as bullish in his bigging-up of this one as he was about Marine Nationale, who gave him a first Festival winner as a trainer in yesterday’s Supreme Novice Hurdle. I’m going to throw in my lot with Hermes Allen, who should arguably be favourite on his form to date, but another trifecta for the Irish would also come as no great surprise.
SELECTION: Hermes Allen
If his runner Steal A March hadn’t gone lame we might have had his owner, the King, getting along to Cheltenham tomorrow but the Queen Consort has got to the track today.
Here’s today’s menu:
1.30 Ballymore Novice Hurdle
2.10 Brown Advisory Novices’ Steeple Chase
2.50 Coral Cup Hurdle
3.30 Queen Mother Champion Chase
4.10 Cross-Country Steeple Chase
4.50 Grand Annual Handicap Chase
5.30 Champion Bumper
Here is Greg Wood’s guide to the TV races
Please note the racing on the box today will not start on the main ITV channel (it will be on ITV4) because it’s Budget Day … back in 2004 when Cheltenham also clashed with that prime Westminster event it caused quite a bit of controversy …
Tomorrow’s Budget coincides with the Cheltenham racing festival – some Tories claimed that such a clash ought to be a resigning issue for Gordon Brown when it occurred back in 2004 … pic.twitter.com/VoXgCJgAVW
— James Heale (@JAHeale) March 14, 2023
Good morning on day two of the Cheltenham Festival. You’ve got your ground news – it’s going to be testing – and you’ve got your information on the horses that have been backed and the ones that won’t be turning up. It might have been a bright start, if cold, at the track but don’t be fooled. Laura Tobin was on ITV Racing’s Opening Show earlier and gave punters a warning … there is going to be plenty of rain from about 3pm onwards so start looking for the soft-ground lovers in the later races. It could boost the Irish chances of winning every race, a ‘“greenwash” as highlighted by my colleague Greg Wood in his introduction to today’s action though the people at BestofBets.com have pointed out to me that on Friday the Irish have six of the ante-post favourites on the seven-race card and Friday is … St Patrick’s Day!
Market movers
These are the horses punters are getting stuck into so far …
Hermes Allen (Ballymore, 1.30) 9/2 into 5/2
Sir Gerhard (Brown Advisory, 2.10) 5/1 into 10/3
Sa Fureur (Coral Cup, 2.50) 16/1 into 10/1
Epson Du Houx (Grand Annual, 4.50) 16/1 into 11/1
Western Diego (Champion Bumper, 5.30) 14/1 into 9/1
Going news
Soft – Chase & Hurdle Courses (Old Course)
Soft, Good to Soft in places – Cross Country Course
Non-runners
2.10pm Brown Advisory Novice Chase (Grade 1) 3m 80y
2 Amirite (Self Certificate, Coughing)
4.50pm Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase) 1m 7f 199y
13 Dancing On My Own (Self Certificate, Coughing)
Preamble
Greg Wood
For all their dominance at the Festival in recent seasons, one achievement is still proving elusive for the visiting Irish stables: a “greenwash” of all seven races on a single afternoon at the meeting. But they may not have many better chances than today, when Edwardstone, the narrow market leader in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, is likely to be the only British-trained favourite on the card and Ireland will supply around 60% of the runners.
The feature event, in fact, is the only race on the second afternoon at Cheltenham in which British-trained runners are in the majority, with five out of seven. Ireland fields 16 of 26 in the Coral Cup, a dozen of 20 runners in the Grand Annual Handicap Chase and no fewer than 18 of 24 in the concluding Champion Bumper.
If Hermes Allen, the second-favourite, fails to extend his unbeaten record in the opening Ballymore Novice Hurdle, it could all come down to the Champion Chase, where Edwardstone and Gary Moore’s Editeur Du Gite are up against last year’s winner, Energumene.
It promises to be a vintage renewal of the two-mile chasing championship, with last year’s Arkle Trophy winner – Edwardstone – up against the reigning champ, and Editeur Du Gite, who beat the pair of them in the Clarence House Chase last time out, also in the mix. There is even a little bit of football rivalry thrown in ahead of the M23 Derby at the Amex Stadium tonight, as Energumene is owned by the Brighton chairman, Tony Bloom, while Editeur Du Gite runs in the red and blue colours of Steve Preston, a lifelong Crystal Palace fan.
It is hard to see beyond the big three in the feature event, but the bookies will be hoping for a little relief elsewhere on the card after a good day for the punters on Tuesday, including wins for three clear favourites and two joint-favourites. Jazzy Matty, in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, is the only winner at double-figure odds so far, and the Coral Cup (2.50) and perhaps the Grand Annual (4.50) probably offer the layers the best chance for an upset today.
The going for the second day is soft on both the hurdle and chase courses, and soft (good-to-soft in places) on the cross-country track, which stages the Cross Country Chase at 4.10. Picks for the five races on ITV today are here, race previews will be appearing here on the blog throughout the day at an appropriate moment along with betting news, instant reactions and all manner of Festival-related nuggets. Enjoy the ride!
