Cheltenham 2009 - Day 1 v Race Winner

10 March 2009

Preview By Tipster rdeacon (England)

With apologies to Isaiah, what I want to do here is write up a nice preview and stick my tips on the end, as opposed to writing 6 different tips up.

Ok

Here we go.

Cheltenham day 1

1.30 - Supreme Novices Hurdle.

A massive cheer will go up as the 21 runners set off in the first race of the 2009 festival, and if you want a tip, then it must be to follow the irish in this. They have won 7 of the last 10 renewals of this race, and there have been some awesome beasts that have triumphed. This year's favourite is the Willie Mullins trained Cosuin Vinny, and as last yeras bumper winner, he has a very good chance. He is however too short a price for me at around 5/2 and I will look elsewhere. I have narrowed it down to 5 !! They are Red Moloney, Go Native, Michael Flips, Medermit and Torphichen. Red Moloney is the Graham Wylie horse, and Graham does very well at the festival, and won this race in 2005 with the 20/1 shot Arcalis. He has won some lesser races at Mussleburgh and will come here with every chance. Go Native is a Noel Meade trained horse who has improved in bundles since being beaten by Hurricane Fly 2 runs ago, and the smart irish money is on this one. Michael Flips is another irish bred horse who has been beaten only once and comes here in great form. Medermit is from the on fire Alan King stable and has great form from his last run at Ascot beating a few of these. Finally Torpichen is a Pipe 4 year old who should not be underestimated as he gets a weight allowance from his rivals and has decent form in the book. The tip though is the Noel Meade trained Go Native to give him another winner of this race after Sausalito Bays win in 2000.

4 points win Go Native @ 12.0 with Coral

2.05 - Arkle

Possibly not the greatest renewal of this 2 mile novice championship, and a fair few in with great chances. Calagry Bay will get plenty of votes as he has won here, and AP Mcoy is in the saddle, Tatenen will get money following him as he is the main Paul Nicholls representative. The wonderfully named Forpadydeplasterer will get the irish money, and has good form in the book with 3 2nds all in grade ones, and Kalahari King os good but probably needs further. My tip though is for a french bred horse (who seem to do so well in this race) and that is the Tom George trained Tartak. This horse has been beaten by Calgary Bay here, but that was over 5 furlongs longer than todays race and this test of speed could just be up our fellows street. The trainer could also not be in better form at present, and had a hatrick of wins just last week. Great value.

4 points win Tartak @ 15.0 with Sportingbet

2.40 Cheltenham - William Hill Trophy

Being sponsored by a bookie tells you everything you need to know about this race....it's bloody tough to find the winner !! Full of old season chasers and novices alike, you often get some potentially very good horses in this. Star De Mohaison is a prime example. Once talked of as a Gold Cup horse by his trainer, he heads the weights in this and will run really well, but the thing is, horses carrying weight tend not to do that well here as they are susceptible to a younger horse lower down in the weights. Step forward Wichita Lineman. This horse i beleive I tipped up here before when he won at the festival a couple of years ago. He is trained by Jonjo, is 8 years old, ridden by the chamo and has had a very good season, winning 2 of his last 3 starts. I will be having a fair punt on him, but will be also backing Calin Alainn as a saver too. This irish trained horse was 2nd favourite in Denman's RSA 2 years ago when he tipped up, and has had a good season as well, also winning last time out. In such a hard race it is no wonder several firms are going 5 places on the eachway terms, but I will have a saver win bet in my second selection.

5 points Wichita Lineman @ 8.0 with Paddy Power

1 point win Calin Alainn @ 13.0 generally

3.20 - Champion Hurdle

The highlight of day 1, and a real cracker on the cards as there are 4 previous winners taking part, none of which are favourite ! That mantle belongs to the Nicky Henderson trained Binocular, and he is a worthy favourite in my opinion, as quite simply he has the best form on offer. He was 2nd in the supreme novices last year, and has won very easily twice this year beating his main rivals at cheltenham with some ease. He is many people's idea of a banker on day 1 and I must admit, I can see very few who will be able to get past him. There are dangers of course. Last years winner Katchit who hasn't run well this season will have blinkers fitted for the first time in this race and that can transform a horse, he is also nigh in unbeatable at Cheltenham, and Alan King is in fine form too. Jered is a bit of a forgottem horse who was a very good novice last year and run well enough this year, but the ground has been too soft for him so far, he will love the ground tomorrow, former winner Sublimity is probably the best of the irish old school, and along with Jered, Won in the Dark has a squeak at a big price. Sentry Duty and Blue Bajan are 2 i fancy at big prices for the home team, but they will all have to run personal bests to get past the new champ and old champ, and they should be bet accordingly.

7 points win Binocular @ 2.875 with Paddy Power

1 point win Katchit @ 17.0 with Stan James

4.00 - Cross Country chase

A relatively new race to the festival with only 4 previous runnings. All 4 have been won by the irish, and 3 of them by trainer Enda Bolger. This is a totally unique "bank" race where the horses run over all sorts of weird and wonderful obstacles. In my opinion stakes should be kept low and just watch it as a spectacle. I see nothing wrong with last years winner Garde Champetre, and Nina Carberry who rides him has also won this race twice. If it isn't my tip that wins I can almost gurantee that it will be either L'ami or Dix Villez !!

2 points win Garde Champetre @ 5.0 with VC Bet

4.40 - David Nicholson Mares Hurdle

The ladies champion hurdle effectively and again a new race on the card of opening day. Nicky Henderson's Chomba Womba was second in this last year and lost me a stack of cash by coming in that position, she has had a hit and miss season thus far, but NH reports her well and in fine mind for a repeat effort at this. United is a horse that has tremendous talent and was good enough to finish 4th in a stayers hurdle here in 2007. Her trainer Lucy Wadham expects a very good effort and she has been in good form this year already, winning her 2 races. The talking horse is the Willie Mullins trained Quevega who has had just the 1 run in Ireland to her name, and that was after chasing home Hurricane Fly over in France. There has been a stack of cash for this horse in recent days, and pust another exciting aspect into the mix in the finale. I'm going with the money on this one.

4 points win Quevega @ 3.75 with Coral