Result remains unchanged after the last today at the Cheltenham Festival. See you all tomorrow for Stayers’ Hurdle day.
*Result* - Placings remain unaltered https://t.co/6b6Zv0UhK4
— BHA Stewards (@BHAStewards) March 15, 2023
Updated
Stewards’ enquiry! Stewards’ enquiry after a rough finish to that race. Winner not affected so go and collect.
A Dream To Share - what a story
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 15, 2023
☑️ Bred by Brian Gleeson
☑️ Ridden by his son, 18-year-old John Gleeson
☑️ Gleeson's first ride at the #CheltenhamFestival
☑️ Trained by 86-year-old John Kiely
Cheltenham once again producing special stories 👏 pic.twitter.com/lRg8KihVNE
Updated
Cheltenham Bumper (5.30pm) result
1 A Dream To Share 7/2
2 Fact To File 16/5f
3 Captain Teague 40/1
Updated
Cheltenham Bumper (5.30pm)
And they’re off … Westport Cove has set off in the lead … Chosen Witness is close up in second as they go out with a circuit to go … Captain Teague is prominent with Captain Cody … Western Diego is travelling well … Encanto Bruno challenges … A Dream To Share wins with Fact To File second and Captain Teague third.
Updated
Market movers for Champion Bumper
Fact To File 6/1 into 3/1
Fun Fun Fun 9/1 into 6/1
No Time To Wait 50/1 into 33/1
Cheltenham Bumper (5.30pm) betting
Fact To File 3/1
A Dream To Share 5/1
Fun Fun Fun 11/2
Its For Me 13/2
Encanto Bruno 14/1
Western Diego 14/1
Queens Gamble 20/1
Chapeau De Soleil 22/1
Loughglynn 25/1
No Time To Wait 33/1
40/1 BAR – 21 runners
Updated
Cheltenham Bumper (5.30pm) preview
Horses trained in Ireland make up three-quarters of the field for this traditional closing event on the second day, a flat race for horses that will be jumping next year and one that has been won by a whole host of future stars over both hurdles and fences. It has not been won by a British-trained runner since 2016 and that trend is very likely to continue, with Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, who have taken all six renewal since, fielding 10 and four runners respectively. Fact To File, Fun Fun Fun and It’s For Me are the main Mullins contenders according to the betting, but the trainers 12 previous successes in this race include two winners at 25-1 and others at 16-1 and 14-1, so don’t dismiss the remainder out of hand.
Don’t overlook John McConnell’s Encanto Bruno either. McConnell has yet to saddle a Festival winner from 18 attempts but he is 9-28 with his other runners at Cheltenham since October 2018 and has been kept fresh for this race since thumping Strong Leader – who was best of the British in yesterday’s Supreme – in a course-and-distance bumper in October.
SELECTION: Encanto Bruno
Grand Annual Chase (4.50pm) result
1 Maskada 22/1
2 Dinoblue 7/2f
3 Global Citizen 12/1
4 Third Time Lucki 8/1
Plenty of drama in the home straight with Maskada staying on best to land the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual for Darragh O'Keeffe & continue a fine #CheltenhamFestival for @HenrydeBromhead 🏇 pic.twitter.com/GwZzmyE8vG
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 15, 2023
Updated
Grand Annual Chase (4.50pm)
And they’re off … Global Citizen is prominent from Dinoblue in the early stages … Midnight Run makes a mistake … Global Citizen has a decent lead with Dinoblue and Elixir De Nutz just behind … Epson Du Houx is getting closer with Andy Dufresne …Maskada makes a challenge with Third Time Lucki … Maskada hits the front and kicks clear powerfully for a clear victory.
Updated
Market movers for Grand Annual Chase (4.50pm)
Dinoblue 11/2 into 4/1 favourite
Global Citizen 16/1 into 12/1
Grand Annual Chase (4.50pm) betting
Dinoblue 4/1
Andy Dufresne 5/1
Final Orders 8/1
Third Time Lucki 10/1
Global Citizen 12/1
Epson Du Houx 14/1
Coeur Sublime 14/1
Elixir De Nutz 16/1
Midnight Run 18/1
Sizing Pottsie 18/1
20/1 bar
Updated
Grand Annual Chase (4.50pm) preview
The pace is always fierce and unrelenting in this race, and a whole host of potential front-runners will be jostling for position as the tape flies back, including the well-fancied Final Orders, who is going for a sixth win in a row, and Dino Blue, who will be attempting to improve Willie Mullins’s distinctly iffy record in Festival handicap chases, with no – repeat, no – winners from nearly 40 attempts.
That stat is, admittedly, a little off-putting, but I’m going to take a chance with another Mullins runner, Dads Lad, in the hope that the anticipated strong pace will play into the hands of this hold-up horse who won over track and trip in October and remains open to further improvement over fences.
SELECTION: Dads Lad
Updated
Cross-Country Chase (4.10pm) result
1 Delta Work 11/10f
2 Galvin 11/4
3 Franco De Port 9/2
💪 Delta Work wins back-to-back Glenfarclas Cross Country Chases!
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 15, 2023
Another gritty performance at @CheltenhamRaces #ITVRacing | #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/638o3C7eXr
Updated
Cross-Country Chase (4.10pm)
And they’re off … Lieutenant Rocco has the lead … Gin On Lime falls with Rachael Blackmore at the second obstacle … now Snow Leopardess takes closer order … Delta Work is in fourth … Foxy Jacks makes an awful mistake … Snow Leopardess kicks clear at this early stage … they are well strung out with Easysland way out at the back … one more circuit to go … Easysland has pulled up and Deise Aba is tailed off … Galvin is just behind the leaders … Eight obstacles to go … Snow Leopardess still leads with one more circuit to go … Lieutenant Rocco is next with Delta Work and Galvin just behind … Snow Leopardess is out of it … Francky Du Berlais and Delta Work with Galvin turn for home … Delta Work and Galvin fight it out … wth Delta Work beating his stable companion for a Gordon Elliott one-two.
Updated
Market movers for the Cross-Country Chase (4.10pm)
Franco De Port: 8/1 into 9/2
Snow Leopardess – 20/1 into 12/1
Updated
Cross-Country Chase (4.10pm) betting
Delta Work 6/4
Galvin 3/1
Franco De Port 9/2
Back On The Lash 14/1
Snow Leopardess 14/1
Gin On Lime 16/1
Deise Aba 40/1
Easysland 50/1
Diesel D’Allier 66/1
Plan Of Attack 66/1
Mortal 70/1
Francky Du Berlais 100/1
Lieutenant Rocco 110/1
Hardline 150/1
Coup De Pinceau 200/1
Cross-Country Chase (4.10pm) preview
Some punters still sneer at this contest over the many and varied obstacles on the middle of the track, but it has been one of the more backer-friendly events at the Festival since its debut on the schedule in 2005, not least since switching from being a handicap to a level-weights event from 2016. It also teed up the magnificent Tiger Roll for his Grand National wins in 2018 and 2019, and almost provided him with the perfect send-off when he was touched off by his stable companion, Delta Work, 12 months ago.
Gordon Elliott’s gelding is favourite to notch a second successive win today, and again seems to have the most to fear from one of his stable companions, Galvin. He is a Grade One winner over regulation fences, took the National Hunt Chase at this meeting as a novice and also finished fourth in last season’s Gold Cup. Perhaps crucially, however, this will be his first attempt at this very unusual challenge, and plenty of horses need a race or two to work it out.
SELECTION: Delta Work
Updated
Champion Chase (3.30pm) result
1 Energumene 6/5f
2 Captain Guinness 12/1
3 Greaneteen 25/1
Relentless, remorseless, has pounded his rivals into submission. The answer is Energumene 🔵⚪️ @WillieMullinsNH | @PTownend | #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/CUvNr9HobW
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 15, 2023
Updated
Champion Chase (3.30pm)
And they’re off … Editeur Du Gite leads from Energumene early … Greaneteen is just behind and Funambule Sivola is a faller … Edwardstone is at the back … Energumene takes the lead … Greaneteen makes a bad mistake … Edwardstone moves closer … but is now under pressure … Energumene smoothly takes the lead and is over the last for an easy success from Captain Guinness.
Updated
Market movers for Champion Chase (3.30pm)
Energumene: 7/4 into 5/4 favourite
Captain Guinness: 50/1 into 16/1
It’s wet at Cheltenham now … as forecast (but she’s happy as she’s a part-owner of The Real Whacker, who won the Brown Advisory Chase)
Champion Chase (3.30pm) betting
Energumene 11/8
Edwardstone 2/1
Editeur Du Gite 13/2
Captain Guinness 16/1
Nube Negra 22/1
Greaneteen 28/1
Funambule Sivola 50/1
Champion Chase (3.30pm) preview
With all due respect to the outsiders of the seven-strong field, it looks very much like a three-horse race for the two-mile chasers’ championship event, and thus a repeat of the Clarence House Chase in January, which switched to Cheltenham after being frozen off at its traditional home at Ascot. On the face of it, the form there makes a nonsense of today’s betting, as Editeur Du Gite, the narrow winner from Edwardstone there, is the outsider of the three principals, while Energumene, who was six-and-a-half lengths away in third, is challenging Edwardstone for favouritism.
The strong post-race feeling, though, was that Editeur Du Gite had been given the perfect front-running ride by Jamie Moore, while the riders aboard Edwardstone and Energumene had been keeping tabs on each other and Edwardstone just failed to reel in the leader once their private battle was complete. Energumene was also ridden with a good deal more restraint than has been the case in the past, and made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes on the way round, perhaps as a result. A return to a little more positivity seems likely today and that could well make all the difference.
SELECTION: Energumene
Coral Cup (2.50pm) result
1 Langer Dan 9/1
2 An Epic Song 16/1
3 Camprond 20/1
4 Scaramanga 50/1
Langer Dan - finally a #CheltenhamFestival hero 😍
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 15, 2023
A horse who has deserved a win at the four-day extravaganza, Langer Dan strikes for @DSkeltonRacing & @harryskelton89 in the Coral Cup pic.twitter.com/bsTaqbZ1Zv
Updated
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 … Scaramanga makes good progress towards the leaders … Benson trying to make ground … Sporting John is struggling …Camprond takes the lead with Scaramanga close up … Captain Conby is challenging but Camprond kicks for home … Langer Dan fights back with An Epic Song and holds on to win!
Updated
Market movers for the Coral Cup (2.50pm)
HMS Seahorse 16/1 ante-post, 9/1 this morning into 6/1
Langer Dan 12/1 into 9/1
Sa Fureur 25/1 into 9/1
Full details via Oddspedia
Scenes as the owners of The Real Whacker urge him home!
🗣 "Go on Sam!"
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 15, 2023
Special scenes - when you try to lift home your horse at the #CheltenhamFestival 😂 pic.twitter.com/0wPwHu2ALx
Coral Cup (2.50pm) betting
HMS Seahorse 8/1
Captain Conby 17/2
San Salvador 9/1
Run For Oscar 11/1
Langer Dan 11/1
San Fureur 11/1
Benson 12/1
An Epic Song 12/1
Fil Dor 14/1
Beacon Edge 14/1
Full betting via Oddschecker here
Coral Cup (2.50pm) preview
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)
— oddschecker Racing (@oddsRacing) March 15, 2023
1️⃣ HMS Seahorse 8/1 (10%)
2️⃣ Captain Conby 17/2 (10%)
3️⃣ Beacon Edge 14/1 (10%)#CheltenhamFestival
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
Updated
Brown Advisory Novice Chase (2.10pm) result
1 The Real Whacker 8-1
2 Gerri Colombe 5-4f
3 Bronn 50-1
Updated
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!!!
Updated
There’s news on where the money has been going before the Brown Advisory Novice Chase via our friend at Oddspedia.
Sir Gerhard 6/1 into 3/1
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
Gerri Colombe 6/4
Sir Gerhard 3/1
The Real Whacker 7/1
Thyme Hill 9/1
Galia Des Liteaux 16/1
Adamantly Chosen 25/1
Thunder Rock 25/1
Ramillies 40/1
I Am Maximus 50/1
Bronn 66/1
Full betting at Oddschecker
Updated
Brown Advisory Novice Chase (2.10pm) preview
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 most backed for the Brown Advisory over the past 24 hours (% of total stakes)
— oddschecker Racing (@oddsRacing) March 15, 2023
1️⃣ Gerri Colombe 6/4 (34%)
2️⃣ Thyme Hill 9/1 (20%)
3️⃣ The Real Whacker 15/2 (14%)#CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/0kxUIRzFrV
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
Updated
Ballymore Novice Hurdle (1.30pm) result
1 Impaire Et Passe 5-2
2 Gaelic Warrior 9-2
3 Champ Kiely 13-2
🟩 Impaire Et Passe roars up the hill in the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 15, 2023
Another sensational @CheltenhamRaces ride from @PTownend #ITVRacing | #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/rfVGQhgLh9
Updated
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!
Updated
“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
Impaire Et Passe 2/1
Hermes Allen 3/1
Gaelic Warrior 5/1
Good Land 11/2
Champ Kiely 8/1
American Mike 33/1
Ho My Lord 40/1
Marble Sands 150/1
Persian Time 200/1
Master Chewy 200/1
Full betting here at Oddschecker
Ballymore Novice Hurdle (1.30pm) preview
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.
📊 The most backed for the Ballymore Novices' Hudle over the past 24 hours (% of total stakes)
— oddschecker Racing (@oddsRacing) March 15, 2023
1️⃣ Hermes Allen 3/1 (24%)
2️⃣ Good Land 11/2 (20%)
3️⃣ Gaelic Warrior 5/1 (19%)#CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/xLULqmfuTk
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
Updated
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.
Updated
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
Reminder!!! 📺
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 15, 2023
Coverage will start today from 1pm on ITV4 and will switch to ITV1 and STV from 2pm. ⏰#ITVRacing | #TheOpeningShow pic.twitter.com/vQur4qtyBO
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!
Bring your umbrellas! ☔️
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 15, 2023
"Rain is on the way". 🗣 @Lauratobin1#ITVRacing | #TheOpeningShow | @chrishughes_22 pic.twitter.com/49TYTnJUTD
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
📊 This morning's most backed horses.
— oddschecker Racing (@oddsRacing) March 15, 2023
Gerri Colombe 6/4
Edwardstone 7/4
Delta Work 11/8
✅ The treble pays a best price of 15/1, compared to lows of 11/1 across our bookmakers.#CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/SyTV2uceTT
Updated
Going news
Soft - Chase & Hurdle Courses (Old Course)
Soft, Good to Soft in places - Cross Country Course
🗣 "It will be testing today."
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 15, 2023
Jon Pullin on ground conditions at @CheltenhamRaces today with the official ground Soft, Good to Soft in places#CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/CdpDh3Jg3m
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
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!
