Horse racing tips for Cheltenham on Friday

The Ratings Choice

Calico - 13:45 Cheltenham

Calico took well to chasing last season, winning handicaps at Southwell and Doncaster, and he also produced a couple of efforts in defeat behind Jonbon which suggest he could be ahead of his mark.

He gave Jonbon a scare when they clashed in the Kingmaker, briefly catching out the long odds-on favourite when injecting some pace in the race, and he was in the process of again running well behind that rival in the Maghull Novices' Chase at Aintree until departing at the final fence.

Calico is only 2 lb higher in the weights than when winning a Doncaster handicap on his penultimate start and given he looked set to show improved form at Aintree he could be ahead of the assessor - he's 4 lb clear at the head of Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings.

The Big Improver

Captain Teague - 15:30 Cheltenham

Captain Teague looked a good prospect when winning a bumper on his debut under Rules at Plumpton and he enhanced his reputation with an excellent third behind a couple of promising rivals with graded experience in the Champion Bumper.

Captain Teague was up against some rivals who had already won over jumps when making his reappearance in the Grade 2 Persian War Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow last month but he shrugged off his rivals with authority, really opening up after the final flight to score by nine and a half lengths.

That performance earned Captain Teague the Timeform Large P, marking him out as one likely to improve significantly, and he can take high rank in the novice hurdle division this season.

The Timeform Flag

Petit Tonnerre - 14:20 Cheltenham

Flags: Horse In Focus

Petit Tonnerre shaped well without winning in a few competitive handicap hurdles last season, including when seventh in the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival when last seen.

That was a strongly-run race but, even so, Petit Tonnerre still found himself too far back and was unable to get on terms despite staying on well up the run-in, sustaining his effort better than had been the case over further on his previous outing.

Petit Tonnerre is a lengthy, useful-looking gelding who is a chasing type on appearance and it would be little surprise were he to improve on some promising hurdling efforts now jumping fences.

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