With the Cheltenham Festival less than a week away, I am going to cover a few early ante-post fancies that I feel have a fantastic chance at this year’s festival. This is my one and only piece about the festival, and hopefully, I can find you guys a couple of winners.
L’EAU DU SUD @ 4/1 – ARKLE NOVICES HURDLE
A fantastic horse that has a huge chance in this smaller field, with SIR GINO out of the picture with an unfortunate infection that he picked up, means that the short-priced favourite MAJBOROUGH could be taken on, and the best horse for that is L’EAU DU SUD.
Form has been backed up following a victory against RUBAUD who then went on to win in very classy style next time out shows that this horse is a class above most in this race, the soft ground which has been confirmed as the possible starting ground for the Tuesday is perfect for this horse and with prior cheltenham form should have this filly right at the front.
SPRINGWELL BAY @ 12/1 – JACK RICHARDS NOVICES CHASE
A good outsider for this race, a typical race that throws a lot of big-priced horses towards the front. Jonjo O’Neil has a brilliant novice with perfect Cheltenham form, with no horses showing too much form in this race.
His form was backed up after he finished 2nd behind JANGO BAIE, who is a good price for the Arkle, and then having a very classy win at Cheltenham, beating a good horse in MARBLE SANDS by 9 lengths. Now up to a career-high mark, he should find this task difficult, and if the ground is soft, he will certainly be in the frame.
WENDIGO @ 18/1 – ALBERT BARTLETT NOVICES HURDLE
Finally, WENDIGO has been backed in from as big as 50/1 for this race after his very impressive 2nd in the Challow Hurdle and a classy win at Wetherby when 1/11 favourite.
FINAL DEMAND has entered the frame as a new contender for this race. After Willie Mullins confirmed in his stable tour, it is a possibility he is upped in trip to 3m, but I feel he would need good ground to stand a big chance. WENDIGO will definitely want soft ground, and with the possible forecast over the weekend, I feel he will get that ground and will certainly be in the frame. However, this race is very strong but tends to have a big priced winner.
