Ed Chamberlin: Cheltenham Festival Q&A

Q. From a personal perspective, what are you most looking forward to about this year’s Cheltenham Festival?

A. It’s a huge honour to have the responsibility to be presenting from the Festival for the first time on ITV. We will try to ensure we capture all the stories, excitement and atmosphere of four magical days. We hope to give viewers the best seat in the house as I’ll be presenting from the paddock alongside Sir AP McCoy and Mick Fitzgerald. The Festival has played such a big part in my life and it feels like a dream come true to be presenting it live.

The story I want more than any other is for Cue Card to win the Gold Cup. The horse is just so popular, it would be a great result for racing. I was at Ascot for his win last time and the noise from the crowd was sensational so I can only imagine the atmosphere if he does it on Friday.

Personally, my ante-post book is a disaster, like a few other people no doubt, but I’m looking forward to a few of the non-runner no bet concessions coming back my way! 

Q. Who would you say are the key members of the ITV team ahead of what is presumably one of the most manic weeks of the year?

A. It’s a great team that’s been assembled and I feel very lucky to be part of it. There’s lots of people involved as you can imagine but front of camera Matt Chapman will undoubtedly bring the betting ring to life, he’s brilliant in the role. 

Alice Plunkett is also a master at her trade, speaking to all the owners and the stable staff. Without owners and stable staff there would be no racing and they will continue to feature heavily in our coverage on the channel. Look out for the wire cam over the paddock, and the drone out over the racecourse, which should definitely make people at home feel part of the action.

Q. What would be the best story to emerge from this year’s Champion Hurdle? The New One? My Tent Or Yours? Or the novice Moon Racer winning it for the Pipes?

A. They’re all good potential stories and that’s what I want on ITV this week – good stories. The best of the lot would be The New One. To finally do it in his fourth attempt in the race. The Twiston-Davies family are extremely likeable and would be going absolutely nuts if this horse – who is almost a family pet these days – won the Champion. That would be a lot of fun.

Full marks to Moon Racer’s connections and who can blame them in what is a wide-open year. I can see him running a big race but struggle to see him winning, though he adds real spice to the race.

Hand on heart, I genuinely have no idea who’s going to win the Champion Hurdle!

Q. All eyes are on Limini and Vroum Vroum in the Mares’ Hurdle but surely there’s some underestimated runners in there against them… can you shed some light?

A. Yes, Lifeboat Mona for Paul Nicholls. She’s a big price in the race and looks set to run really well.

Q. Neon Wolf is a short-priced favourite for the Neptune, mostly based on his last run on soft ground. Didn't Harry Fry say he needs soft ground? Messire Des Obeaux must have a great chance. 

A. The vibes for Neon Wolf are very, very strong, Matt Chapman for one thinks he’s an absolute monster, but that hype means he’s going to be a very short price on ground that could dry more than looked likely a week or two ago.

I agree with Messire Des Obeaux, who was one of my horses to follow on these pages at the start of the season. He’s got a huge chance in the race. He was beaten at Huntingdon last time but I’m not sure the track would’ve have suited him and he may just have needed it, according to Alan King.

Q. The Albert Bartlett is a layers paradise for fancied horses Ed, do you reckon we can sink another one in this over-hyped yoke Death Duty? He looked a lucky winner the last time.

A. I’m going to have to disagree here about Death Duty, who would have beaten Augusta Kate for me, as all he does it stay. Gordon Elliott is obviously as shrewd as they come and the way he talks about this horse reminds me a little bit of how he was talking about Don Cossack in his younger days.

But you are right, this is a brutal contest and has seen many a jolly come unstuck. They go so quickly and that always turns it into a battle royal.

Ben ‘Value Bet’ Linfoot thinks Ami Debois is seriously over-priced and, while I’m not sure if that’s going to be among his selections this week, I’m happy to row in with him. If he was trained by a more fashionable yard, I suspect the horse would be a shorter price.

Q. I heard AP McCoy rode out More Of That last week and was really positive, did he really say if he was still riding then he would be on him in the Gold Cup?

A. All I know is that he schooled him and was very pleased. I sense More Of That is one of those horses that’s had so many problems and will either run a screamer in the Gold Cup on Friday, or completely bomb out. I’ve backed his stablemate Minella Rocco at 33/1.

Q. Which single piece of form entitles Native River to be a 4/1 chance for a Gold Cup?

A. Well, we’ve clearly lost a few major contenders in Thistlecrack, Coneygree and Don Cossack, hence his price. He’d be a good bit bigger with Thistlecrack in there. However, I thought his Hennessy and Welsh National performances were both outstanding efforts.

I watched last year’s four-miler back the other day, which saw Minella Rocco beat Native River in a brilliant race. I was initially a little bit worried as coming down the hill he was just tapped for toe slightly, but Native River is a different horse this time around and Aidan Coleman was surprised with the gears he showed at Newbury last time.

The Gold Cup is a serious test of stamina which Native River has all the attributes for, but Djakadam and Minella Rocco are the two for me. Djakadam has had the ideal preparation this time and there’s real momentum behind his chances of breaking through at the third time of asking.

Don’t forget Cue Card either – his chance certainly hasn’t gone. Paddy Brennan raved about a schooling session he did the other day and this horse really is 11 years young. That would be the best story of the entire week.

Q. Hi Ed, me, my missus and my uncle will be in The Beehive for 9.30 pm on Thursday. Fancy a pint?

A. I very much appreciate the offer, but I think I might be a bit busy on the eve of the Gold Cup!

Q. Do you pay any attention to the chat on the preview night circuit and, if so, what’s the best snippet you’ve heard?

A. I absolutely love the preview nights, they are all part of the magic of Cheltenham, and are unique to the sport really.

I purposefully only hosted one. At the sportinglife.com preview at Doncaster Racecourse Ben Pauling was quite bullish about Willoughby Court, while admitting it was a very warm race, but it was fascinating what jockey Adrian Heskin had to say about Yorkhill and the difficulties Ruby Walsh would face riding the JLT favourite. I went into it thinking Yorkhill was a certainty, but left thinking I’d have to reduce my stakes a little…

As for the online preview we did with Daryl Jacob, Warren Greatrex and Ben Linfoot, Greatrex sounded really keen on La Bague Au Roi in the mares’ novice hurdle.

Q. What would be your best prospect this week for one of the handicaps? What’s your best dark horse or outsider that you’re taking a chance on this week?

A. I respect leading commentator Richard Hoiles enormously and as far as the handicaps are concerned I know he’s very sweet on Winter Escape in Friday’s County Hurdle.

I quite like Two Taffs in the novice handicap chase on the first day. In fact, I’ll be keeping a close eye on all of Dan Skelton’s handicappers throughout the Festival.