Cheltenham Festival Bonus On Offer In Kelso Morebattle Hurdle
There is a huge £100,000 Cheltenham Festival bonus on the table ahead of Saturday’s bet365 Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso – with the sponsors dangling the lucrative bonus should the winner go onto land ANY 2023 Cheltenham race at the Festival.
bet365 To Offer Big £100k Cheltenham Bonus For The Morebattle Hurdle Winner
With Cheltenham fever hotting up by the day, it will be all eyes on Kelso racecourse this Saturday with their (1:50pm).
Why? Well, the 2m handicap hurdle contest has a very profitable link to the best four days of jumps racing.
Sponsors bet365 have attached a £100k bonus, should the winner of Saturday’s contest win ANY 2023 Cheltenham Festival race between (14th-17th March)
The Cheltenham bonus carrot has so far attracted 26 potential runners for the Kelso race. Headed in the betting by the Irish raider Mctigue@ 4/1 with bet365 from the Grand National winning yard of Emmet Mullins.
Should Mctigue win the Kelso race, this 4 year-old holds entries four Cheltenham races.
The Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, Coral Cup, Triumph Hurdle & Martin Pipe Conditional Jockey’s Handicap Hurdle.
The final Morebattle Hurdle runners will be declared on Thursday 2nd March.
2022 Morebattle Hurdle Winner Cormier Could Be Back for More
We could also see the 2022 Morebattle Hurdle winner – Cormier @ 8/1 with bet365 – return to defend his title.
This Brian Ellison-trained 7 year-old ran out a 1 1/2 length winner last year, but failed to land the bonus. He was only 7th in the County Hurdle a few weeks later.
He returns on a mark 3lbs lower than last year though and being a proven course and distance winner can’t be ruled out.
The Shunter Landed Cheltenham Festival Bonus in 2021
The last horse to win the Morebattle Hurdle and Cheltenham Festival bonus was The Shunter (pictured) in 2021.
This horse was trained by Emmet Mullins and owned by Paul Byrne – they are going for the big prize double again with the already mentioned Mctigue.
The Shunter went onto win the Paddy Power Plate over fences at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival to land the £100k bonus.
Trainer Nicky Henderson Also Likes To Target The Morebattle Hurdle
Despite training in Lambourn, and 350 miles away from Kelso, trainer Nicky Henderson has won the Morebattle Hurdle twice since 2016. We Have A Dream and Top Notch, both owned by Simon Munir & Isaac Souede, were their two winners.
At this stage, the Seven Barrows yard has Gipsy De Choisel @ 16/1 with bet365 entered in Saturday’s race.
Oh, and this 7 year-old is also owned by a certain Munir and Souede – could this be a sign?
