Cheltenham Festival Handicap Tips – 11/4, 8/1, 14/1 and 14/1 Picks (£1 Lucky 15 Returns £12,259)
The Cheltenham Festival handicap weights have been released and we can try our luck at picking out four selections for a big odds accumulator or multiple.
Adam (OB) has been through the cards and found four Cheltenham handicap tips ranging from 11/4 to 14/1 and we’d advise backing them in an each-way lucky 15 or yankee.
At the time of writing, the best odds available are 7592/1 with 888Sport for the 4-fold and a £1 lucky 15 would return a massive £12,159 if all four tips win.
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Cheltenham Each-way Lucky 15 Tip
- Boodles Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle
- Coral Cup
- Grand Annual
- County Hurdle
The Boodles Fred Winter – GAELIC WARRIOR (11/4)
Another tough handicap that has had big priced winners recently (80/1 winner in Jeff Kidder last year) and only 1 favourite (Band of Outlaws 7/2 2019) in the last 10 years.
The talking horse over the last month or so for a Cheltenham handicap has been GAELIC WARRIOR and he is the one I’m going to side with here. Ever since he was entered (not declared) in a race at Cheltenham on trials day and the English handicapper gave him a mark of 129, this has been the plan.
He is yet to run for the Ricci/Mullins connections and that is mainly down to what is thought of as a lenient handicap mark. He had his 3 runs in the spring/summer last year as a 3yo and although he hasn’t won, some of the form has stacked up.
Britzka and The Tide Turns have fair chances too and they would be the 2 I fear the most. Both trained by Gordon Elliott, they have both been campaigned with 1 eye on getting qualified and well handicapped for this race. To be honest I was surprised The Tide Turns only got given a 2lb rise from the British handicapper which makes him run off a rating of 137 which is fair. Whether he can give Gaelic Warrior 8lb though is another matter.
I believe his 129 rating will look silly come this race. The Mullins team think this horse is a graded animal and I’m convinced we are going to see this here. This could be the 1 and only time Gaelic Warrior runs in a handicap.
The Coral Cup – GOWEL ROAD (14/1)
The Coral Cup is always a tricky race to get a handle on and it has seen some big priced winners in recent years (including last year’s 33/1 winner Heaven Help Us). Only 1 favourite has won this (Dame De Compagnie 5/1 2020) in the last 10 years.
GOWEL ROAD was impressive when beating Unexpected Party at Cheltenham in November giving him 14lb. The latter is 2nd favourite currently and is worse off at the weights now. My selection now only has to give Unexpected Party 3lbs.
He didn’t show much in the Gerry Fielding at Newbury the next time but that was at 2m which we know is an inadequate trip for him. He was 2nd to Meltier last time out at Lingfield but again was over a trip too short. He has had a nice break now and should come here fresh
He disappointed in the County Hurdle at last year’s Cheltenham Festival but I’m happy to forgive that as that was over 2m and he was only a 5yo. I believe he has improved this year for the step up to 2 ½ miles. His win in November was on the old course which is the course the Coral Cup is run on and that’s a huge bonus. I believe this has been the target since his win here in November and at a general 14/1, he is overpriced and worth a stab at.
Grand Annual – BEFORE MIDNIGHT (14/1)
The Grand Annual is a handicap that is not necessarily won by an unexposed, improving horse as some other handicaps can be. Last year’s winner Sky Pirate had a very open campaign last year and didn’t hide anything from the handicapper, winning off a 10-year high rating of 152.
My selection BEFORE MIDNIGHT has a rating of 148 and is a very experienced chaser with 11 career starts over fences. He has course & distance form having won at the October meeting, beating Sky Pirate in the process and can go on all sorts of ground.
He has since won a competitive handicap at Ascot, was a well-beaten 4 of 4 to Shishkin in the Desert Orchid over Xmas and been beaten a length by Funambule Sivola (who has since franked that form by winning the Game Spirit at Newbury) at Doncaster.
Only 1 winner in the last 8 years has carried under 11st and that was 12yo winner Crocco Bay in 2019. I believe the Sam Thomas trained 9yo is underestimated and will be coming into the race slightly under the radar. He is overpriced to me and he has a massive chance in this.
County Hurdle – WEST CORK (8/1)
Dan Skelton is an excellent target trainer and has a great record in handicap hurdles, especially this race having won it 3 times in the last 6 years and it is a horse from his stable that I like here. WEST CORK has been targeted for this race since winning The Greatwood Hurdle here at the November meeting.
Off the track for 631 days prior to winning the Greatwood, he beat Champion Hurdle hope Adiago and a host of other good horses. The form of that race is astonishing and by far the best handicap hurdle run this season. A number of horses in behind West Cork that day have won a mix of big handicaps and graded races.
The last day he had the bounce factor and blew out whilst finishing further down the field in the Betfair Exchange Trophy at Ascot in December. He has since been left for this and I’m sure his trainer will freshen him up and get him to peak for the festival. There could be 1 in here from Ireland that is a graded horse and be too good for him (the main worry would be State Man off 141) but he has lots of boxes ticked for this race and he has a huge chance.
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