Timeform highlight the key trends to keep in mind for the Sporting Life Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Sporting Life Arkle
14:10 Cheltenham, Tuesday
The two strongest trends for the Sporting Life Arkle are that every one of the last ten winners has been a last-time-out winner and aged six or seven. One of the leading contenders on ratings Riviere d’Etel (176) fails on both counts, being a five-year-old who was beaten on her latest start, though it might have been a different story last time but for a last-fence mistake when going down by just half a length to Blue Lord at Leopardstown.
Favourite Edwardstone falls foul of the age trend too – he’s eight – but he has ticks in all the right boxes otherwise, notably being the only leading contender who was both a smart hurdler in the past and who comes into the race with an adjusted rating of more than 170 over fences – he’s top-rated on Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings with 177. Most recent Arkle winners have had an unbeaten record for the season going into the race and it’s only bad luck that stops Edwardstone ticking that box too – he’s won all four of his races since being brought down on his reappearance.
The only one of the leading contenders who can boast an unbeaten record over fences, in fact, is the aforementioned Blue Lord who meets five of the seven criteria, notably for age and adjusted chase rating (175).
Coeur Sublime has five ticks too, including as a former placed horse at the Festival (runner-up in the Triumph Hurdle), though more importantly he doesn’t quite make the grade in terms of chase rating. The other one who does is Blue Lord’s stablemate Haut En Couleurs (172p), another five-year-old, who was third in last year’s Triumph.
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