It was a good start for my ante post Cheltenham Festival selections last week. Having tipped Mighty Potter at 10-1, his Grade 1 win at the weekend made him half in price. This certainly bodes well for his chances in March and I’ve returned with another selection this week. The novice races are some of my favourites of the Festival and this week I’m looking at the National Hunt Chase. A gruelling test of class and stamina, this rather unique race over 3m6f requires a special kind of horse. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.
Ballygrifincottage (14-1, William Hill) looks like he’s got bottomless stamina reserves and is tailor-made for this test. A visually striking specimen, he looks every inch a chaser. I would imagine that connections would have deemed anything he did over hurdles as a bonus. Despite that, he was useful over hurdles and gained a rating of 140.
This horse won two points before switching to Dan Skelton’s yard. He was thrown in the deep end on his hurdles debut, running in a Cheltenham Grade 2 over three miles. Acquitting himself well, he finished third to two hugely promising horses in the shape of Blazing Khal and Gelino Bello.
The maiden tag was out the window on his his next start as he impressively won at Lingfield’s valuable January meeting in appallingly heavy conditions. Finishing fourth in the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham, he perhaps didn’t have the turn of foot necessary to trouble the front three but still ran a good race.
Made his chase debut at Haydock over an extended 2m5f, it was a smooth success by 11 lengths and he jumped noticeably well. Dan Skelton’s gelding shapes as if the step up to 3m6f will suit him well and he’s likely to become a much better horse over the larger obstacles. It would be no surprise to see this horse powering up the hill in March when most are running on empty.
1pt win @ 14-1
1pt Mighty Potter for the Turners’ Novices’ Chase @ 10-1 (29/11/22)
1pt Ballygrifincottage for the National Hunt Chase @ 14-1 (06/12/22)
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