Ok, here we go... My selections as we stand going into day 1... 1.30 - Altior, win 2.10 - Vaniteux, e/w 2.50 - Southfield Theatre, e/w 3.30 - MTOY, e/w 4.10 - VV Mg, win 4.50 - Definitly Red, e/w 5.30 - Double Shuffle, e/w Got something on em all, some big stakes for me and some little ones for interest... I have also done a cheeky e/w patent on South T, Def Red & Dub Shuff as the odds look good to me all round on them three... We shall see... Let's hope for a great week of racing with great stories and great drama, as long as they all get home, that will be the main success really... All the best lads, lets kick them crookies...!!!
See that sponger Pricewise has copied me in the first tomorrow. Getting wed in May fellas. I let the other half organise the venue meeting and tasting which apparently takes 4 hours! She reminded yesterday that it's tomorrow at 3pm. Can you believe it. The lesson is, listen when they ask you questions don't just nod and say "yeah fine".
Don't fancy taking on those Mullins hot pots this year. Don't want to back em either at those prices. Well, maybe VVM at the morning's best price.
Cheltenham 3.30 Camping Ground, e/w 2.50 and 5.30 Out Sam/Aloomomo singles and a double, e/w Good Luck everyone
World Hurdle on Thursday should be Thistlecrack's to lose, but have a sneaky feeling that Aux Ptits Soin is much better than his 14/1 odds. He won the Coral last year despite crashing into nearly all the hurdles. He has not run since and I am hoping Paul Nichols has got him ready for this race just like last year. Slight worry is that he has only been in work this season since the first week of January as a couple of minor surgeries have had him out. Basically no-one knows what he is capable of as he has been kept under wraps for a year. Nicholls says he will make a very good 3 mile chaser so very much one for the future. He looks very strong and stamina is no problem.
1.30 Cheltenham Min 9/4 The Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh / Rich Ricci combination have taken the opening contest at the Cheltenham Festival for the last 3 years and I’m very confident that Min can repeat the feat and get last season’s leading trainer off to the perfect start. Like the last two winners, Min looks another very impressive recruit for the Closutton handler and this son of Walk In The Park (sire of Douvan), like Vautor, arrived in Ireland having not won in either French start. Very much a talking horse long before he made his debut for Mullins, Min justified the hype with his long odds on victory over 2m2f at Punchestown in December with a 14L trouncing of the Maiden Hurdle field. The runner up that day Gurteen has since given that form a bit of substance with a battling bumper win at Leopardstown and an easy maiden hurdle success (beaten but injured on his last start). On his 2nd and latest start for new connections, Min again looked imperious with a demolition job of a 2m Punchestown Grade 2 in January and again that looks very solid form with the easily dispatched 3rd Ball D’Arc winning both starts since and himself winning a Grade 2. People keep saying that Min has been priced up on connections but I firmly believe that, at 5/2, he represents good value judged on his exploits and I’m very confident he can take this down. Looking at the opposition, I couldn’t have Altior at any price. He was impressive at Kempton’s flat track but that couldn’t be more different and he barely scraped home over C+D against a lame John Ferguson trained Maputo which wouldn’t be near good enough for this contest. The other single figure horse in the contest Buveur D’Air is a stablemate of Altior and I personally think he has more legitimate claims that his shorter priced compatriot but, again, I can’t have either hailing from the Nicky Henderson stable which hasn’t won this race since 1992. Supasundae might be one at a bigger price to fill the places but I think Min enters this contest with the best form and I envisage him landing the Supreme in comfortable fashion. 2.10 Cheltenham Douvan 2/5 No need for much detail here as, bar a fall, Douvan is already home and hosed. Last year’s Supreme Novices winner is unbeaten in 7 starts for Willie Mullins and looks even better over fences than he did over hurdles. It’s surely not a matter of if but, rather, how far. 2.40 Cheltenham Out Sam 15/2 There is literally no doubt in my mind that a mark of 139 makes Out Sam a very well handicapped animal and if coping with the stresses of this 24 runner handicap then I think Warren Greatrex’s 7 year old is going to take a huge amount of beating. Trained by Nicky Henderson during a largely successful novice hurdle campaign (fell on his last start in the Albert Bartlett), Out Sam was picked up by Warren Greatrex this season in which he has gone from strength to strength. Having run ok in a handicap hurdle on his seasonal debut (off 142; sent of 11/4 fav), Out Sam was pitched in a bit at the deep end when contesting a Grade 2 contest and although comfortably held in 3rd it was a nice introduction behind 2 decent horses going right handed (better left handed) in conditions that weren’t ideal. Having won as he should at long odds on to get off the mark in a 3 runner field at Catterick, I was incredibly impressed with his latest performance at Newbury when he again won a 3 runner contest. Travelling and jumping well throughout, Out Sam clearly relished the step up to 3m for the first time as he very comfortably dispatched of his two rivals and I was really impressed with his manner of victory. It said a lot to me about how much Gavin Sheehan had left under him as it wasn’t until after the last that he asked him for anything and there was plenty in the tank as he surged away from his main rival to score by an eased down 3L. He gave 4lb to the runner up Milansbar who has since comprehensively won a handicap off a mark of 137 whilst the 3rd Activial is officially rated 145 (might be a bit high) and there’s literally no doubt to me that Out Sam has been very leniently let in by the handicapper off an opening mark of 139. In fact, Out Sam was initially going to head to the Grade 1 RSA Chase until his opening mark was released and Greatrex actually altered the plans of his other well fancied runner Aloomomo to the last race on Day 1 to accommodate him which says all I need to know about how well in he thinks he is. I get the argument that this helter skelter large field is a far cry from the small field races he’s been competing in recently but it also can be said that he’s very unexposed over fences and he has a lot more to offer over this 3m1f trip where I think he can be buried and put to sleep. You can make a case for dangers aplenty with the potentially well handicapped Holywell (I think he’s gone from the game) and Kruzhlinin who I rate as the main danger but with Warren Greatrex ‘guaranteeing’ Out Sam will be a much better horse on a sound surf I don’t think there’s a horse in this contest who is better handicapped to beat him. 3.30 Cheltenham Annie Power 5/2 It’s a shame that the brilliant Faugheen and last year’s runner up Arctic Fire both picked up injuries with the former surely already home and hosed in what really looks a very poor renewal of the Champion Hurdle and although this was clearly not her intended route, her preparation hasn’t been ideal and this is her first time at the top level over 2m I think, with a 7lb mares allowance, Annie Power has the pace and class to take this. Beaten just once in 14 competed starts when a valiant 2nd to More Of That when outstayed in the World Hurdle two years ago (I don’t think anyone will forget her heartbreaking fall at the final flight in the Mares last year when miles clear), the 8 year old Annie Power has been poetry in motion to watch in her career for Willie Mullins and many feel this is a long overdue crack at the premium 2 mile contest. I don’t buy the issues surrounding not coping with the pace of the contest as she’s never seemed to lack tow and although this probably isn’t the ‘ideal’ preparation for this contest I don’t think for a second she’d be risked in this if connections weren’t happy with her well being as she’s sure to make a terrific broodmare when she retires. The New One, who was stuffed in this last year and who looks below the class required, currently standing as second favourite says how weak this race is and I can’t see him taking this down. Of the others, 6 times Grade 1 winner and stablemate Nichols Canyon probably sets the standard and would be the solid each way but, again, if his two injured stable companions were lining up I wouldn’t see him beating either of those. Identity Thief might be the other to run into a place for the shrewd Henry De Bromhead but I’m confident Annie Power has the talent to prevail in this and give Willie Mullins his 4th win in the last 7 years. 4.10 Cheltenham Vroum Vroum Mag 11/10 Willie Mullins has dominated the Mares Hurdle at Cheltenham having saddled the winner for the last 7 years (6 of those going to the brilliant Quevega) and, although Annie Power has been diverted to the Champion Hurdle, connections have a readymade replaced in Vroum Vroum Mag. Unbeaten since joining the Mullins powerhouse, Vroum Vroum Mag easily picked up 5 Graded chases on her 6 starts over the larger obstacles before making a seamless transition to hurdles on her previous two outings and she’s never been made to work since settling on Irish soil. Although she hasn’t beaten too much over timber, the yard know what it takes to win this contest and they will surely have a line through what is needed through Quevega, Glen’s Melody & Annie Power. Only one other horse in the line up is currently a single figure in the shape of Polly Peachum and although she has to be respected given she was runner up last year I’m sure Vroum Vroum Mag will have her measure and I’ll be very surprised if she doesn’t continue her trainer’s terrific record in the contest. 4.50 Cheltenham Southfield Royale 7/1 Noble Endeavor was the first horse that I was drawn to from the Gordon Elliott stable which took this contest last year and although I think that has a terrific chance I think Neil Mulholland’s charge Southfield Royale has the best form in the race and he looks like he will stay for days. A half brother to last year’s RSA runner up Southfield Theatre, Southfield Royale has been the model of consistency by winning 5 and finishing 2nd 4 times in 10 starts and I think the chase form in this contest is the best on offer. Having finished a narrowly beaten 2nd on his chasing debut by the Twelve Roses over a very inadequate 19f, Southfield Royale beat the decent hurdler (only chasing start to date) Zeroeshadesofgrey by 20L before comprehensively beating 141 rated chaser Coologue by 13L in a Grade 2 at Doncaster back in December. Just two weeks later, this 6 year old had his final start when finishing a very credible 4L beaten 2nd to Tea For Two in the Grade 1 Feltham Chase on Stephen’s Day (nearly 4L clear of re-opposing Native Gallery) and he lost nothing in defeat on a flat right handed track. Trained specifically for this race, I am sure Southfield Royale will appreciate the return to running left handed given his propensity to jump out to his left on his last start and I certainly think the step up to 4m and Cheltenham itself will suit him better than Kempton. In addition to that, given that he is by Presenting, you’ve got to assume that he will definitely appreciate the better ground he’ll encounter at Cheltenham. Although this a tough contest, Nina Carberry is definitely one of the best jockeys you can have in this race and I think it’s a great coup to have secured her services. With trainer Neil Mulholland in terrific form, I think Southfield Royale has all the characteristics to run a huge race and I’m hopeful he can come out on top. 5.30 Cheltenham Aloomomo 6/1 Despite going up 32lb in 3 starts this year, I’m confident that Aloomomo is ahead of the handicapper off a mark of 140 and with only 4lb covering the entire field I’m of the belief that Warren Greatrex’s charge will take a fair bit of beating. After joining his current yard early last year from France and having a couple of starts in England, Aloomomo has returned this season as a completely transformed horse who looks like he has not yet finished progressing. Having bolted up on his seasonal reappearance off a mark of 108 and following up under a 7lb penalty, Aloomomo again proved he was still well ahead of the handicapper with a 9 length victory at Newbury over 22f back in November off a mark of 129 in a race that has worked out well. Having travelled into contention well, Gavin Sheehan and Aloomomo hit the front approaching 3 out and he never looked back as he kept powering on home and was never further clear than at the finish. The 3rd La Vaticane, 4th Midnight Prayer (both fortuitously) and 5th home Mosspark have given good substance to that form and I think an 11lb rise for that win still see Aloomomo ahead of the handicapper. Aloomomo had a final start last month with a very solid run over hurdles which will serve as a great pipe opener for today and I’m sure he’ll be absolutely spot on for this. In this very condensed novice handicap with only 4lb separating the entire field, Aloomomo brings a lot of chasing experience to the field with 8 starts over fences (4 in France) and he still looks to be on a very upward curve. I don’t think the drop back to an extended 2m4f will inconvenience him at all as he doesn’t look short of pace and I’m confident that Aloomomo can round of day 1 in fine style by landing this contest.
Should be only the first part of the mares race and 4-miler run on soft (yellow) today, all the rest is now Good to Soft. Claisse has done it again
Nice write ups ROTO but that's pretty much the seven favourites! Your public expects something more "monumental" mate
ALTIOR THE GAME CHANGER very small eway THEATRE GUIDE eway NICHOLS CANYON VVM SHANTOU FLYER eway FOURTH ACT eway Good luck!!
First bets of the day placed - a fiver at early prices and a fiver at SP: Min - Douvan - Annie Power - Vroum Vroum Mag I'd hate for him to do it without me having a bean on it
The one source of frustration I do get is when a race pans out and you think "how the **** has that thing won?" Anyone remember Western Warhorse winning the Arkle? And I had future Champion Chase winner Dodging Bullets in my placepot and he could only finish 4th. I would've had the placepot up on that day.
