Graeme North previews day one of the Cheltenham Festival from a timing perspective and highlights two best bets.
Two things might be unfamiliar about Cheltenham’s opening day – the running order, which seems to me less appealing than in recent years, and the re-siting of the final hurdle much further back from the winning post – but the object of this column as ever remains the same, to try and dig out some winners on the clock across the four days.
Mindful that Cheltenham has a very efficient drainage system nowadays, arguably too efficient, I’ll proceed on the assumption that the ground may well be faster than given officially.
The Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle kicks off the first day as it traditionally does. All I’ve read for the last few weeks is how deep a race it is this year but the clock says something different – Old Park Star is 17lb clear on ratings from Mighty Park whose timefigure from his only start at Fairyhouse was very hard to pin down accurately and could have been higher, by some way, than the 139 he was awarded.
Mydaddypaddy earned some sectional upgrades earlier in the season that would put him thereabouts but this looks a shoot out to me between the top two in the market and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Mighty Park turned out to be the real deal.
Kopek Des Bordes has long been talked about as the real deal too and he makes a belated second appearance of the season in the Arkle, for which he is now favourite after some reportedly encouraging homework.
He was imperious in the Supreme last year, recording a 159 timefigure, significantly higher than the 146 Lulamba posted in the Triumph, but the latter has bloomed over fences this season, posting a 162 in the Game Spirit at Newbury last time. A race to watch and savour.
