2.20pm Cheltenham Tips & Betting Preview 11/12/2015

2.20pm Cheltenham Friday 11th December

Free Tip: Any Currency at 5/2

Race Details

Race Time: 2.20pm Meeting: Cheltenham Day: Friday 11th December 2015 Full Race Name: The Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeple Chase Class Two

Betting Preview

Considering this is not a handicap it’s amazing how much of a weight range there is thanks to various penalties and allowances, from eleven stone eight at the top all the way down to ten stone ten, a weight to be carried by First To Boogie (50/1) for trainer Aidan Anthony Howard and jockey J P McKeown. Very inexperienced for a seven year old, he was third in a point to point at Rockfield in early November and filled the same position on his chasing bow at Punchestown behind Quantitativeeasing but looks the sort to learn with racing and in receipt of weight all around, if there is a shock he may well be the one to provide it.

Any Currency (5/2) won’t be getting any better at the age of twelve but he just loves it round here and has placed again and again over three and a half miles and must have similar chances having won over this distance here last December.  Trainer Martin Keighley is one of racings true “nice guys” and just loves having a winner here, and if the price is right he really ought to prove close to impossible to keep out of the frame granted a clear run of course, at a track and over fences that just seem to bring out the very best in him – one we just cannot resist.

Any write up for one if these races that fails to mention Enda Bolger is an error as he is the master trainer when it comes to these novelty races. Josie’s Orders (9/2) won here over shorter last month, and showed a liking for the fences and course configuration seeing off Any Currency by a length and a quarter, but they would meet in very different terms today, and it is hard to see how he can win again on a stone and nine pounds worse terms!  With his trainer’s record we still wouldn’t dare be brave enough to totally write him off but logic insists we can’t back him this afternoon, even if we are still confident he will put in a decent enough run, at these weights surely even he simply cannot win today (famous last words)?

With the Irish historically dominating these events, though not so much in recent years, Gordon Elliott wants a piece of that action and may send Bless The Wings (14/1) over, looking to follow up his win last time out at Fairyhouse. He was third here to Josie’s Orders and Any Currency and is another who cannot beat Any Currency at the weights today (he gets no weight at all here but got twenty-three pounds last time), but any further rain would help his cause as he seems to relish a stamina test in the mud, so he seems sure to run a big race and arrives here in top form.

Lastly, pulled up and slipped up are not exactly inspiring form figures but that is exactly what sits next to the name of Sire Collonges (7/1) who seems represents the Paul Nicholls yard today. He was in with a shout behind Josie’s orders when slipping up last time out and has plenty of course experience and with his stable starting to hit top form again and always ultra eager for even more winner and prize money, we can be sure he won’t go down without a fight, and might even deserve a change of luck today.

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