Cheltenham Preview by Paddy Power (Thursday, March 08, 2007)

Speaking of Cheltenham though, it's time to start getting serious about the biggest four days of the year. I'll be in Cheltenham next week so will give you the latest for the last two days, but let's first have a look at Tuesday and Wednesday. The ground is the main talking point at the moment and it looks as though it's going to be very soft to start with. This can mean one of two things, either there'll be a host of freak results that will leave us bookies with satchels bulging, or else there's plenty of value left in the soft ground horses. The Champion Hurdle is the highlight of the week for me and it doesn't get much better than having the winners from the previous two years and also the Triumph hurdle champion from last year battling it out. Detroit City deserves to be favourite to give the English a rare win in the race but I wouldn't write off either of Brave Inca or Hardy Eustace. In fact I'm pretty sweet on Hardy Eustace. He's been there and done that twice and only lost his crown last year after an interrupted preparation. This year he has been better than ever and even if age is catching up on him, the slower ground will keep the pace sensible. He'll hit the front early and wont come back to them. You're wallet will be swollen by the time Hardy wins if my bet of the week prevails in the Arkle. It's Don't Push It for Jonjo O'Neill, JP McManus and AP McCoy. This lad wont mind the ground and will have no trouble getting home considering he ran Denman to 3/4 of a length over an extra half mile at Cheltenham in November. On Wednesday I think Catch Me will be saying just that in the Ballymore Properties Hurdle and I don't think they will. In the second race the SunAlliance Chase, the value has to be Snowy Morning for Willie Mullins. He's still an each way price and while Denman will take plenty of beating, I can't see Snowy Morning out of the first 3. The Queen Mother is the highlight of the week for many and this year it's pretty intriguing with Well Chief back on the scene, last year's winner Newmill in top form and the soft ground specialist Nickname coming seriously into the equation. For me it's a repeat of last year. Newmill didn't get the credit he deserved for a thumping performance and went and confirmed it was no fluke when hacking up at Punchestown. He'll win regardless of the ground. Posted by soccerbetting.info @ 11:33 PM << Home