Hunters’ Chase tips: 4.10 Cheltenham win and each-way picks
We are on the fourth and final afternoon of another glorious Cheltenham Festival, and among the stellar highlights today will be the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase – the Gold Cup for amateur riders.
The race at 4.10pm has attracted a 24-strong cast and, after agonisingly missing out last year when Winged Leader was caught in the final strides, trainer David Christie will be hoping to go one better this time with leading contender Vaucelet.
Our racing expert fancies the favourite to deliver, but has a next-best at a big price who could shine on the grand stage in the Cotswolds.
Cheltenham 4.10 Hunters’ Chase tips
Enda McElhinney’s fancies for the big race are below. Scroll down to read the expert analysis behind them.
- Next best: Black Op @ 28/1 with Betfred
Odds correct at time of publishing and may be subject to change.
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Billaway may struggle to repeat late heroics
After twice finishing second in this race previously, Billaway got his hands on the prize last year for Patrick Mullins, among the most capable of amateur riders in this environment.
That win owed much to Mullins’s patience in the saddle. His partner did not jump well and never really appeared to be showing much enthusiasm, but he was coaxed along and allowed to wait as long as possible before being called on for maximum effort. Billaway rewarded his rider with a strong final flourish to catch Winged Leader in the last few yards.
This will have been the target since then and it is possible he has been trained with the race in mind. While he won the same prep event at Naas five weeks ago, he is perhaps not as good as he once was and, in a pair of first-time blinkers, could struggle to replicate those heroics now.
Vaucelet to seize the moment for Christie
Northern Irish trainer David Christie had to suffer an agonising defeat 12 months ago when Winger Leader did all the hard yards to be foiled up the famous Cheltenham hill.
The trainer is strong in the hunter chase sphere and the market for this race was dominated by as many as three of his runners all winter.
It is saying something, then, that he just sends VAUCELET to the Cotswolds.
He has won three of his previous four, including point-to-points, and really should have defeated Billaway at Punchestown last season in the Champion Hunters’ Chase when a bad mistake at the last cost him.
That was over three miles, as was his Christmas success at Down Royal when he got the best of Dorking Cock late on with The Storyteller – both of whom run here – behind in seventh.
Rising in trip can only be a plus factor for him now: he has won over further, and the soft ground is also a positive. This progressive eight-year-old should be going better than anything late in the race and, given his scope for better, can account for his more exposed rivals.
Classy Black Op on the radar
The likes of Chris’s Dream for Henry de Bromhead and 2021 winning rider Maxine O’Sullivan have a chance, while the same can be said of the improving Famous Clermont under another former victor in Will Biddick. They could be a really key partnership.
Not That Fuisse could go well for Jack Andrews and Dan Skelton, while Shantou Flyer is the mount of Olive Nicholls and loves this place, though has work to do on his previous meeting with Famous Clermont.
Of those at big odds, maybe BLACK OP could be the one to shine. He was a smart staying chaser for Tom George, finishing seventh here in the Gold Cup won by Minella Indo in 2021.
He lost his way afterwards and duly moved to the yard of Emma Clark. Since that he has gone on a sequence of four point-to-point wins, the latest in January.
He needs more in this field, but was second in a Ballymore here, third in the Dipper as a novice over fences and third behind Paisley Park in a Cleeve Hurdle, so this could be within his range.
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