Staking A Claim Week 3 Selections – Weekly Cheltenham 2023 Ante-post Tips

OB and Ciaran are back with another two Cheltenham 2023 ante-post tips as they once again lock horns in their head to head tipping competition ahead of the biggest week of National Hunt Racing next March.

You can see all the existing selections in the table at the end of this article and there are also links to the week 1 and week 2 selections.

All the selections will be recorded as a 1pt win or 0.5pts each-way and we haven’t restricted the tips to any particular bet so you can expect to see singles, doubles and even the odd treble for the tips.

You can also follow both Ciaran (@murphfinbarrs) and OB (@OB_14) on Twitter where they will be outlining all of their ante-post bets and thoughts ahead of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.

 

Ciaran’s Week 3 Bet

• Honeysuckle (Champion Hurdle)
• Current odds – 4/1 with William Hill

Constitution Hill could be the greatest horse we have ever seen. Could. There is no denying that his Supreme Novices’ Hurdle performance last year was incredible. However, coming into the race, he wasn’t even favourite and in the lead up to the race, he had beaten Jetoile, Might I and lost a point to point to a now 137 rated Anyharminasking. If we take the view that Dysart Dynamo and Jonbon cut each other’s throats in the Supreme, then we must also come to the conclusion that for all that Constitution Hill might be a superstar, his price is artificially short. 

Now let’s remind ourselves of the record of 2 times defending Champion Hurdle champion Honeysuckle (not to mention a defeat of Bennie Des Dieux in the Mares in the previous year). 16 runs, 16 wins. Yes, that’s right, she is unbeaten. And while Constitution Hill has been beating the likes of Mr Glass, Honeysuckle has seen off the likes of Epatante, Sharjah, and Apples Jade. 

The argument against the champion is that she will be 9 when the Champion Hurdle comes around and that last year, her performances showed signs of a declining ability. However, the counterargument is that she was just doing enough and given her unbeaten record, it’s a hard one to dispute. Her deadliest weapon has never been her devastating turn of foot, but rather her ability to put the race to bed before it became a sprint. If she does the same again, Constitution Hill will need to be every bit as good as many think he is to pass her and this is something no horse has ever been able to do. 

Of the others, I am a huge fan of both Vauban and State Man but for the former, the difficulty of Juveniles stepping into open company is well documented. State Man won a handicap of 141 impressively and while he had Flame Bearer, Three Stripe Life and Kilcruit in behind at Punchestown, these horses were at the end of a long season (while SM had only had a couple of races). He could be good but again, would need to step up considerably to threaten the Queen.

 

OB’s Week 3 Bet

• Chapeau De Soleil (Champion Bumper)
• Current Odds – 12/1 with bet365

My selection this week comes off the back of another horse running last weekend and in my opinion, disappointing.

King of Kingsfield was all the rage going into the weekend and his price for the Champion Bumper plummeted all week from a general 16-20/1 shot all the way down to 7/1 before his run at Down Royal. Bookies have since pushed him out to 10/1 but I still believe that’s too sure.

I think Kings of Kingsfield was underwhelming and to be honest, I was expecting more from him. Gordon usually puts his best bumper horse in this race (American Mike last year and Envoi Allen before etc) and it’s usually a sign of what he has at his disposal.

Due to the above I’m willing to take a chance on Chapeau De Soleil (12/1) in the hope he will be the best from the Mullins yard. I believe Willie will have 2/3 who will be better than King of Kingsfield and I’m hoping my selection turns out to be something special.

It’s never easy trying to work out the order of the Champion Bumper horses at Closutton, especially this early in the season but I’m happy to take my chance off the back of his P2P run and the connections this horse now has.

Chapeau De Soleil was impressive in his only run in a 3m P2P in May when with Colin Bowe and I can only see an upward curve for this horse from now on. Willie mentioned in his recent stable tour that he could be a ‘top class bumper horse’ and that’s good enough for me.

Unlike many Willie Mullins horses, you know the division/race he is going to race in so you haven’t got the worry of having 2/3 other options he could end up in and that’s important when tipping this far out.

 

Staking a Claim Tips so Far

	Ciaran	OB
Week 1	Galopin Des Champs (Cheltenham Gold Cup) & Allaho (Ryanair) ODDS: 12.5/1	Gaillard Du Mesnil (National Hunt Chase) Delta Work (Cross Country) ODDS: 15/1
Week 2	Dysart Dynamo (Arkle) ODDS: 16/1	Brandy Love (Mares Hurdle) ODDS: 5/1
Week 3	Honeysuckle (Champion Hurdle) ODDS: 4/1	Chapeau De Soleil (Champion Bumper) ODDS: 12/1
Week 4	Ashroe Diamond (Mares Novice) ODDS: 9/1	Blazing Khal (Stayers Hurdle) ODDS: 6/1
Week 5	Proschema EW (Stayers Hurdle) ODDS: 25/1	Jet Powered (Supreme Novices' Hurdle) ODDS: 14/1
Week 6	Grangeclare West (Ballymore) ODDS: 10/1	Telmesomethinggirl (Mares Chase) ODDS: 8/1
Week 7	James Du Berlais (Brown Advisory Chase) EW ODDS: 20/1	Lossiemouth (Triumph Hurdle) and Luccia (Mares novice hurdle) ODDS: 19/1 win double
Week 8	Hiddenvalley Lake (Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle) ODDS: 8/1	Three Stripe Life (Brown Advisory Novices Chase) ODDS: 14/1 win double
Week 9	Barry The Butcher (Champion Bumper) ODDS: 20/1	Impaire Et Passes (to win any race) ODDS: 6/1 win double
Week 10	Salvador Ziggy (Pertemps) ODDS: 25/1	Three Card Brag (Albert Bartlett) ODDS: 14/1
Week 11	Arctic Bresil Without Favile Vega (Supreme Novices' Hurdle) ODDS: 20/1	El Fabiolo (Turners) ODDS: 10/1
Week 12	Fascile Mode (Champion Bumper) ODDS: 12/1	Risk Belle (The Boodles Fred Winter) ODDS: 16/1
Week 13	Tekao (Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle) ODDS: 8/1 NRNB	Selection: Chris’s Dream (Hunters Chase) ODDS: 10/1
Week 14	Brandy Love (Mares Hurdle) ODDS: 4/1 NRNB	Threeunderthrufive (Ultima Handicap Chase) ODDS: 12/1 NRNB
Week 15	Galvin (Cross Country Chase) ODDS: 6/1	Gerri Colombe (Brown Advisory Chase) ODDS: 8/1
Week 16	Inothewayyourthinking (Martin Pipe) ODDS: 16/1	Spanish Harlem (Martin Pipe) ODDS: 20/1
Week 17	Coole Cody (Plate Handicap) EW ODDS: 40/1	Bravemansgame (Gold Cup) ODDS: 8/1
Week 18	Shanbally Kid (Albert Bartlett) ODDS: 25/1 EW	Camprond (Coral Cup) ODDS: 20/1
Week 19	Gerri Colombe (Brown Advisory) & Mighty Potter (Turners)double ODDS: 6/1	Sharjah (County Hurdle) ODDS: 10/1 EW
Week 20	Dino Blue (Grand Annual) ODDS: 7/1	Mighty Potter (Turners Chase) & Edwardstone (Champion Chase) ODDS: 11/2

Staking a Claim week 1 Selections

Staking a Claim week 2 Selections

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