JANE MANGAN marks your card: Majborough is unbackable in the Champion Chase so here's my each-way fancy - and I've a few more BIG-PRICED tips for day two at Cheltenham
THE feature race today is the Queen Mother Champion Chase and anyone having an interest in Majborough should remember that seven odds-on favourites have been beaten in this race in the last 10 years.
He is unopposable on all known form, he is unquestionably the best horse in the race, but I wouldn’t back him at his price.
The way I’m going to approach this race is to have an each-way nibble on Quilixios, the horse that looked like he was going to finish second to Marine Nationale last year, but for falling at the last.
While it’s an obvious concern that he hasn’t run so far this season, I’m trusting Henry de Bromhead will get him there in peak form. He is the choice of his stable jockey Darragh O’Keeffe and Henry has won the race four times.
I think Majborough is unopposable, but he’s also unbackable.
The first race of the day, the Turners Novices’ Hurdle over two miles and five furlongs, has a massive field of 22 runners.
Quilixios looked like he was going to be second to Marine Nationale in the 2025 Champion Chase
Britain appear to have their best novice running in this race, in the shape of No Drama This End, but we must remind ourselves that 10 of the past 12 winners have come from Ireland. A big field is going to make this a bit of a tactical nightmare and with that in mind, I’m willing to take on the favourite with King Rasko Grey from the Willie Mullins yard.
Favourites have a decent record in the race, they’ve won seven of the last 15 renewals, but I think King Rasko Grey has a huge amount of improvement to come from his performance at the Dublin Racing Festival, where he was third in the Grade One Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle over two miles. The extra five furlongs here will only enhance his chances.
I’ve seen King Rasko Grey on the gallops here, he’s a very imposing, impressive looking horse, quite lightly raced for his age, and I think he’s going to improve past Ballyfad to win the Turners.
Next up is the Brown Advisory Novices Chase – a race in which amazingly, the British trainers had no runners last year. It’s good to see that they have some representatives this time around, but they don’t have the winner.
All the way along, I have really fancied The Big Westerner. Drying ground conditions certainly hinder her chances, and it’s discouraging to see that stable jockey Darragh O’Keeffe has abandoned ship, but I’m going to stay loyal given how well she ran on similar ground conditions in the Albert Bartlett last year.
The Big Westerner has to overcome the mare statistic – mares are nought from 12 in the past 28 renewals of this race, but I doubt too many mares of this calibre have attempted to win it.
She’s my idea of the winner with a notable mention for Oscars Brother, who I think is going to run a big race for trainer, Connor king – what a magical story that would be for the man with two horses in training.
The Cross Country Chase at 3.20 is a fabulous spectacle, but not always good to the punters.
Keith Donoghue has won five of the last seven renewals of this race, and he rides the top weight here Stumptown, who was the punter’s pal when a winning favourite last year, but this time around, given the drying ground conditions and the fact that it’s likely to be run on good, I think his stablemate Final Orders will run a big race.
He receives over a stone off Stumptown at the top of the handicap, he won at the December meeting over course and distance and the fact that his chances will be enhanced by the good ground mean that I think Final Orders, stablemate of the top weight, can win the cross-country.
The Irish have an exemplary record in the Champion Bumper, with 26th of the last 33 winners trained in Ireland. Willie Mullins, of course, has won it 14 times.
But one of the best bumper trainers of his generation is Noel Meade and he has booked Irish champion flat jockey Colin Keane to ride The Mourne Rambler. He was second on his only point-to-point start before winning his bumper well at Leopardstown over Christmas. I think he beat a good horse into second that day in Cityofblindinlites, and given connections, I think The Mourne Rambler will be the one for me in the bumper.
The Grand Annual is a very tricky race, with a full field of 20, and I think this one will go the way of the home team.
I like Puturhandstogether in the BetMGM Cup at a nice price
Dan Skelton is becoming a bit of a handicap king, particularly at the Cheltenham Festival, and while Be Aware has been the bridesmaid on his last three starts, he’s got course form, when he was second to July Flower here back in November. It’s no mean feat that he was second in a Grade One and a Grade Two then subsequently. Back into handicap company off a mark of 147, I think Be Aware is going to be hard to stop in the Grand Annual.
The last one we have to take a look at is the race formerly known as the Coral Cup, the BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle at 2.40, and I like something at a big price in this.
I picked the wrong Joseph O’Brien horse in the Fred Winter last year and I won’t make that mistake again with Puturhandstogether again. He won off 130 when he won at the Festival last year and subsequently he won the Irish Cesarewitch at the Curragh. He lost his form over hurdles, disappointing in the Galway Hurdle subsequently, but I think he could bounce back to form here for Joseph O’Brien and JJ Slevin.
He’s running off a mark of 146, but his experience in big-field handicaps, the drying ground and his flat speed should enhance his chances in such a competitive race.
Puturhandstogether is my selection to land this at a nice price.
