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Friday 10 February 2012

My tips for Ladies' Day

The Cheltenham Festival really is in full swing. Let me see if I can pick a decent winner or three. As ever, hot favourites have been turned over already this meeting and it could happen again.

JEWSON HANDICAP CHASE

I am a big fan of the Northern trainer Sue Smith and it’s possible to make money from backing just her horses on the northern courses year in year out. She doesn`t bring too many down here and her choices demand respect. I like her GANSEY which will go off at 20-1 or even more, and am having a good each way.

Nicky Henderson and Jonjo O’Neill command respect in this race but Jonjo doesn`t have a runner, so I am having a win bet on Henderson’s  DAVE’S DREAM.

PERTEMPS FINAL HANDICAP HURDLE

This is a fiendish race to unravel and big-priced outsiders have won in the last few years. Nigel Twiston Davies has three runners in a big field and all should be decent prices, so I am sticking with him and having e/w bets on KAYF ARAMIS, BALLYFITZ and SOUTH O THE BORDER.

RYANAIR CHASE

Some likely winners in POQUELIN and TRANQUIL SEA but Cheltenham is not a place to go in for short priced horses, so I`m going again for e/way bets on horses with a fine chance of being placed.

I was first alerted to VOY POR USTEDES before he’d won anything here. I was in the dry cleaners and the jockey, Robert Thornton, was ahead of me, picking up his silks. The girl at the counter asked him for a tip and he gave her this. I was on him like a flash and he has made me a lot of money since. He loves it at Cheltenham, he is at his best in spring. Yes, he’s a bit older and had a dud run in Ireland but that was on soft to bottomless ground. I think he can overturn the favourites and you should get anything between 14-1 and 18-1.

I never stray far from Nicky Henderson and especially not this year, but I`m leaving his number one runner BARBER’S SHOP and going for an e/w on his other horse, JACK THE GIANT. He will be a big price and might spring a big surprise.

LADBROKES WORLD HURDLE

Another hot favourite here in the Paul Nicholls trained BIG BUCK’S but Nicholls has been muttering about him getting his come-uppance one day and there is no way I would bet on anything here at odds-on. But he may well win, so let’s look for an each way again and another great favourite horse of mine,  KATCHIT. Trained by Alan King and ridden by Choc Thornton. Perhaps his best days are behind him. Perhaps not. But with my soft spot for him and a price of probably around 20-1, I`m letting my heart rule my head.

BYRNE GROUP PLATE

Huge field, hugely competitive. If you want to have a bet use a pin.

FULKE WALWYN KIM MUIR CUP

For amateur riders, so many people won`t bet on it. But there are amateur riders and amateur riders and the Irish Nina Carbery is one of the very best.  She is on Ferdy Murphy’s GALANT NUIT so I`ll have a bet on them. It’s a huge field again but I have a strong vibe about this one.

More tomorrow, which is of course Gold Cup Day, and a review of today’s bets later.

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