Cheltenham Festival tips: Dark horses and best outside bet
Matt Brocklebank highlights a handful of Cheltenham Festival horses he thinks could be ghosting into the big meeting under the radar.
ASIAN MASTER (Willie Mullins)
You won’t get many Mullins horses that can be classed as under the radar ahead of Cheltenham these days but Asian Master fits into the category after taking an unusual route to the Sky Bet Supreme.
A winning point-to-pointer (he finished second to Fact To File on his debut in that sphere) who was second in a Cork bumper before running in a novices’ hunter chaser for the Costellos last spring, he's two from two over hurdles since moving to Closutton and being dropped back to the minimum trip this term.
There was something particularly striking about the way he put the race to bed after the last at Navan last time out, pulling 10 lengths clear of the 136-rated Better Days Ahead, and it’s hard to fault this horse’s jumping.
He’s got bags of experience for a seven-year-old and could be the type to outrun his odds by some margin.
APPLE AWAY (Lucinda Russell)
You need a horse not far off Grade 1 level to win the modern-day National Hunt Chase and Apple Away has a top-level triumph on her CV from Aintree last April when landing the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle.
She showed an abundance of stamina to come home in front that day and having won just one of her four starts over fences this season, including twice finishing behind the classy Grey Dawning, she now looks in need of an even longer trip.
Apple Away still has room for improvement in the jumping department but that should be helped by the typically slower gallop of the three and three-quarter-mile contest on the Tuesday of the Festival and a big run could be on the cards.
A shot at the Brown Advisory looks out of the question now but if connections decide to go for one of the two handicap options still open to the mare instead, then her mark of 137 looks perfectly workable too and it's worth recalling they've won the past two runnings of the Ultima with Corach Rambler, who now bids for Gold Cup glory.
FIRST STREET (Nicky Henderson)
No trainer can match Nicky Henderson’s four Coral Cup victories and he looks to be building towards another strong assault on the day-two handicap.
Doddiethegreat has been well talked up since his staying-on effort in the Betfair Hurdle, while No Ordinary Joe – second in last season’s Martin Pipe – had what looked like an ideal sighter for this when third at Kempton over the weekend.
However, the one that’s almost hiding in plain sight is First Street, who was giving State Man 1lb when second to the Mullins blot in the County Hurdle a couple of years ago. He finished mid-pack in the same race last March but was rated 152 at the time and has come down to a handy mark again now.
The assessor initially bumped him up to 145 (from 141) for his Unibet Hurdle third behind Lossiemouth in January but has since eased the horse back to 143 which looks perfectly workable.
First Street remains unexposed over this sort of distance and his three career runs over trips ranging from 2m3f to 2m5f have produced two wins and a fair third behind stable companion Marie’s Rock in last year’s Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle. His profile is not too dissimilar to that of Henderson's 2014 Coral Cup winner Whisper.
JUDICIAL LAW (Jonjo O’Neill)
Like Henderson and the Coral Cup, Jonjo O'Neill is the leading trainer when it comes to the Pertemps Final, having also won the three-mile race four times, and his last winner Holywell represented the same owners (Gay Smith) as Judicial Law.
This seven-year-old really came good on decent ground last spring, winning back-to-back handicap hurdles at Worcester and Huntingdon before holding his form right through to the autumn, including another victory at Kelso.
He qualified for the Festival Final when second to Hyland there at the Showcase meeting in October, after which he’s seemingly been unsuited by testing conditions in two winter outings.
Now rated just 2lb higher than for his runner-up effort at the end of October, Judicial Law is an interesting lurker for a yard that has done so well with their springtime specialists in the past.
NURBURGRING (Joseph O’Brien)
Joseph O’Brien’s Festival team looks small but select this year and one horse not getting a huge amount of attention in the build-up is Nurburgring.
However, he’s looked a big improver since being gelded in the autumn, winning a Grade 3 at Fairyhouse before looking a touch unlucky when staying on for a close third behind Kala Conti – the horse he’d beaten the time before – in a Grade 2 event at Leopardstown over Christmas (replay below).
He’ll be suited by spring ground, a true test at the trip on Cheltenham’s demanding New Course, and looks to have been ignored in the market after connections opted to skip the Dublin Racing Festival on account of the wet weather.
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