Cheltenham ante-post betting picks: weekend review – January 8-9
A round-up of the latest Cheltenham Festival ante-post odds after some standout performances at Sandown, notably within the Tolworth Hurdle
The weekend of January 8-9 may have been extra low-key than the high-end racing over the busy festive season, but it nonetheless included the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown Park.
Nicky Henderson took the race for a record-extending sixth time in his profession with Constitution Hill and many will consider the five-year old is a future Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner.
Here’s our newest weekend review of the large jump-racing stories with an eye fixed on the Cheltenham Festival in March.
Cheltenham ante-post betting picks
Odds appropriate at time of publishing and may be subject to vary.
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El Fabiolo can check Henderson pair
Between them, Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins have received 11 editions of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, the Cheltenham Festival curtain-raiser, and the ante-post betting suggests it is going to be a courageous call to go against considered one of them making that a dozen on March 15.
The market is dominated by Henderson’s unbeaten duo Jonbon and Constitution Hill, adopted by Mullins’ Sir Gerhard, the winner of final year’s Champion Bumper.
Jonbon and Constitution Hill want no introduction. The former has been a speaking horse since he was snapped up by JP McManus for 570,000 guineas and Douvan’s brother has done little wrong thus far.
Constitution Hill announced himself with a glowing show within the Tingle Creek assembly at Sandown in December and he returned there to back that up in type by successful Saturday’s Tolworth Hurdle.
It was ultra-impressive but it came on deep and testing floor that he’s unlikely to see come March. Form trends don’t give us nice hope both, with only one winner of the Sandown race happening to win the Supreme up to now decade.
Constitution Hill is clearly a massive participant however at 9/4 favorite is he one to be backing proper now?
Jonbon’s two hurdles wins this season have are available in races run at a relative crawl, with Henderson rightly expressing a want to get extra expertise into him earlier than Cheltenham. The horse’s buzzy nature might be a fear.
Sir Gerhard barely put a foot wrong in his winning hurdles bow over Christmas and, because the Champion Bumper hero of 2021, he has that all-important Festival expertise. His probability is obvious on the betting so maybe it’s his Closutton stablemate EL FABIOLO that might provide some market value at 20/1.
He was bought by leading house owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede after one hurdles run in France, in September 2020, when he completed third in a Listed contest at Auteuil (2m 2f, heavy).
Some 472 days later, he made his debut within the two-tone green silks at Tramore on New Year’s Day and he easily dispatched his rivals under Paul Townend, with bumper-winning stablemate Tempo Chapter Two following him residence.
He appears to have plenty of capability and, ought to he come out and win next month on the Dublin Racing Festival, his Cheltenham value will be halved. The same owners had been set to have the runner-up within the Supreme final season before Blue Lord came down at the last flight and, exterior the large three within the betting, El Fabiolo is amongst the potential darkish horses within the Supreme.
Selection: El Fabiolo to win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle @
Sky’s the restrict for Wadham’s mare
It’s at present 6/1 the sphere in the Mares’ Hurdle on the first day of the Festival (March 15), with the wide-open nature of the betting due largely to the 2 greatest mares in coaching – Honeysuckle and Epatante – each focusing on a second Champion Hurdle victory earlier within the day.
The market is headed by Telmesomethinggirl, the winner of last year’s Mares’ Hurdle, and Stormy Ireland, a scorer at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day. But after her victory at Sandown on Saturday, MARTELLO SKY should perhaps be a shorter worth.
A novice final 12 months, Lucy Wadham’s charge is way improved since ending in midfield behind Telmesomethinggirl on the Festival last March.
She returned to Cheltenham in April to win over the identical distance and was also successful there last month in a mares’ handicap off a mark of a hundred and forty. On Saturday she won a Listed race at Sandown during which she had Grade 1-winning Irish novices Skyace and Gauloise properly behind.
It was one other step ahead and with plenty of course expertise plus Aidan Coleman within the saddle, she would surely line up within the Mares’ Hurdle with a solid probability come March.
Selection: Martello Sky to win the Mares’ Hurdle @
Market speaks for Prengarde
There was a betting move to regulate as PRENGARDE shot to the head of the marketplace for the Cross Country Chase after it was confirmed he had been purchased by JP McManus and can be relocating to Enda Bolger’s yard in Ireland.
Prengarde has received five of six begins in his native France within the cross-country self-discipline and is now becoming a member of the trainer successful in 4 of the first 5 runnings of the Festival’s Cross Country Chase with Spot Thedifference, Heads Onthe Ground and Garde Champetre (2) – all in McManus’s colors.
The owner has 5 wins in complete in this race and it’s price recalling there were similar strikes for Easysland in 2020 before he came and romped home in the Cotswolds.
Tiger Roll had no answer that day, but the dual Grand National winner has won this race thrice within the last four years, together with when placing Easysland in this place last time. He is in fact now 12, whereas Easysland hasn’t run since that outing final spring.
The new kid on the block is making waves in the betting and might be shorter still come raceday.
Selection: Prengarde to win the Cross Country Chase @
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