Horse racing predictions: Tuesday’s Cheltenham each-way tips
It’s finally time, the Cheltenham Festival is here again – and on day one of a fantastic four in the Cotswolds, the 2024 Champion Hurdle takes centre stage this afternoon.
The big race goes off at 3.30pm, with State Man expected to inherit the crown from Constitution Hill, absent because of a lingering infection. There are seven contests in all today, from 1.30pm to 5.30pm, and we have got some each-way selections for consideration across the action.
Cheltenham each-way racing tips – Tuesday March 12
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Venetia could be set for Victtorino lap
The first of the Festival handicaps is the Ultima over 3m 1f, with a field of 23 declared to go into battle.
As has been the case of late, Irish horses are expected to dominate as far as race wins this week but this contest has not gone the way of the raiding party since Dun Doire all the way back in 2006. So the home team needs really close monitoring, even though the likes of last year’s fourth The Goffer and 2023 Kim Muir runner-up Stumptown are much respected for Gordon Elliott and Gavin Cromwell.
Leading UK-trained hopes include Chianti Classico and Trelawne – both for Kim Bailey – and Weveallbeencaught for locally based trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies. But a chance is handed instead to VICTTORINO for Venetia Williams’s yard.
Twice a winner in his native France, including over 2m 6f at Auteuil, he had just one run last season over hurdles after joining this stable.
He then defied 223 days off to win at Ascot (3m, soft) in November off a mark of 138 when beating Two For Gold in the Sodexo Gold Cup and he followed up from 4lb higher back there in the Howden Silver Cup just before Christmas.
A drop back in trip at this track in January caught him out, but he has run well again since back at 3m at Ascot in the Swinley Handicap Chase behind the likes of Threeunderthrufive and Shan Blue, who provide two excellent benchmarks.
He has been eased 1lb for that and the improving six-year-old is of interest here under Charlie Deutsch for an outfit in good form.
Brave call in the Champion Hurdle
It seems that only an accident can prevent State Man from laying claim to the Champion Hurdle crown, but such things can happen at Cheltenham – and there is some value in the each-way market after the eight were declared.
The market leader holds a class advantage, but behind him it is a level enough playing field.
Not So Sleepy is 12 now and unlikely to bring anything new in his fifth Champion Hurdle appearance, while Iberico Lord and Nemean Lion have more on their plates than ever.
Irish Point is a Grade 1 winner this season, but it was over three miles with some proper stayers in behind, so he is in for a culture shock back at this shorter trip.
State Man’s trainer Willie Mullins is also saddling ZARAK THE BRAVE, the mount of Daryl Jacob in the Simon Munir and Isaac Suede colours, and he is interesting.
He missed this meeting last spring but otherwise had some really good juvenile form, twice finishing second to stablemate Lossiemouth – the odds-on favourite for the Mares’ Hurdle on this card.
After winning the Galway Hurdle off a mark of 145 last summer, he flopped at Tipperary in October, but clearly did not give his true running there.
At Naas in January, he beat Telmesomethinggirl in a Grade 3 contest when giving her 7lb and he potentially still has more to come. He could pick up some prize money here at a big price.
Your Wear It Well not dismissed in haste
Lossiemouth will take some halting if she sees out the trip in the Mares’ Hurdle and builds on her comeback here in January.
While she accounts for a big chunk of the market, maybe YOU WEAR IT WELL is being overlooked unduly back at the scene of her best day, when winning the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle here last season under a canny attacking ride from Gavin Sheehan.
She was fifth afterwards behind Irish Point in an Aintree Grade 1 over 2m 4f and reappeared by accounting for (subject to appropriate going) Champion Hurdle entrant Luccia at Wetherby (2m, soft) in November.
Further runs in third behind Not So Sleepy and Love Envoi in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth at Sandown (2m, heavy) and then Marie’s Rock in a Doncaster Grade 2 for mares over three miles followed, beaten just a length-and-a-half on Town Moor.
She got stuck in the mud at Haydock on her most recent start, but would not be the first to come undone by a testing surface at the Merseyside layout. The only two significant defeats of her career have, in fact, been on heavy ground and she should not get that at Prestbury Park.
Her form at this trip is excellent and, as a Festival winner already she is given the chance to shine back here on more suitable ground.
Course winner to give Fred Winter a crack
Later on the card is the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle – a race known to many as the Fred Winter – a helter-skelter contest over the Champion Hurdle course and distance for four-year-olds.
Plenty has been said about the handicap mark allotted to French-based Milan Tino in the JP McManus colours, but the market does not miss him.
In last month’s Scottish Triumph Hurdle at Musselburgh, Liari made all and won in pleasing fashion for Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden.
Back in fifth was AN BRADAN FEASA, for trainer Jack Jones and jockey Tom Bellamy, who was not helped by a mistake three out and also by the relatively speedy nature of the Musselburgh layout.
Before that, he had had two runs after joining this trainer, both of them at Cheltenham. He was second to Burdett Road in a Grade 2 Triumph Trial here in November and then came back and won in December in a weaker Class 2 contest.
That Cheltenham experience could help him now and he is 8lb better off with Liari. A mark of 126 looks fair – and at the prices, it is worth speculating that An Bradan Feasa can run well again at a venue that he clearly loves.
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