Cheltenham Gold Cup Day is all about Galopin Des Champs hat-trick bid in steeplechasing’s blue riband, but Willie Mullins’ classy chaser is sure to be too short to get the blood pumping for most punters.
Our best bets run in three of the first four races on the card, with the aim of having you in clover in good time to savour the strong prospect of the defending champion joining Arkle, Best Mate, Cottage Rake and Golden Miller as only the fourth horse ever to win three consecutive Gold Cups.
Cheltenham Gold Cup Day best bets
Nap: 1.20 Hello Neighbour to win @ 5/1
NB: 3.20 Intense Approach to win @ 14/1 (each-way)
Longshot: 2.00 Ndaawi to win @ 16/1 (each-way)
Bet on the latest Cheltenham Festival odds at Betzone
Hello Neighbour to repel English challenge in the Triumph Hurdle
The Triumph Hurdle (1.20) has three fascinating contenders at the top of the betting in favourite East India Dock, Lulamba and Gavin Cromwell’s HELLO NEIGHBOUR.
East India Dock is top-rated on 146 after slamming Stencil by 10 lengths over course and distance in late January and is sure to go close despite that opponent failing to compliment the form in the Fred Winter.
Lulamba is open to plenty of improvement after scoring well on his sole English hurdles run, but that form has since been let down by the second, the unrepentant puller Mondo Man.
Hello Neighbour has the joint-second-highest flat rating in the field and a BHA hurdles mark just 1lb lower than East India Dock despite having raced once less over obstacles. On what’s been achieved to date he shouldn’t be the outsider of the three market principles.
Nap: 1.20 Hello Neighbour to win @ 5/1
McConnell runner has all the attributes to outrun potato race price
Backing horses at single-figure prices has generally been a fools errand in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (3.20) of late, with Monkfish (2020) the sole winner sent off shorter than 11/1 inside the last 10 runnings and two scorers at 18/1, two at 33/1 and one at 50/1 inside the past seven renewals.
French raider Jet Blue is passed over then, for all his obvious claims following a course and distance Grade 2 win in December, as are The Big Westerner and Champion Bumper winner Jasmin De Vaux.
INTENSE APPROACH has plenty in his favour for the each-way players. John McConnell’s second season novice has form figures of 11211 since being stepped up in trip beyond 2m4f and has won well over three miles in each of his last two outings.
The first of those came at Cheltenham’s Old Course on good going. He then returned from a break to score on good-to-soft at Musselburgh in February. That should put him spot-on for this and similar ground on Gold Cup day will help his claims further.
NB: 3.20 Intense Approach to win @ 14/1 (each-way)
Festival-proven hurdler could leave flat form behind on timber return
The County Hurdle has largely been a Willie Mullins vs Dan Skelton affair in recent years, with Mullins five-four up on Skelton over the last 10 editions. The Irish trainer has the betting by the scruff of the neck with likely favourite Kargese, followed by second-favourite and defending champion Absurde.
Just behind them is another 2024 Festival winner in the shape of Fred Winter victor Lark In The Morning, whose high esteem from the odds-compilers highlights the each-way potential of Ndaawi.
Gordon Elliot’s five-year-old finished only two-and-a-quarter lengths adrift of Lark In The Morning at last year’s meeting despite giving that rival 12 lbs in weight. This time that differential is down to 6 lbs.
Largely campaigned on the flat since, Ndaawi’s sole subsequent hurdles excursion saw him finish second in the valuable Galway Hurdle, so it would be little surprise if he gave a very decent account of himself here.
Longshot: 2.00 Ndaawi to win @ 16/1 (each-way)
