Matt Newman: “100-1 is insulting to this Cheltenham Festival 2021 runner”

The Hunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival went to a 66-1 shot last season. There have also been 33-1, 25-1 and 16-1 winners within the last decade so it is a sound target to aim at if looking for an outsider to run well at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival.

It will be a little different this year with the loss of amateur riders but there is still one who caught the eye at Warwick on his return to racing under rules for whom the relatively dry forecast next week is an enormous plus. He is available at 100-1 with William Hills at time of writing.

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Friday 3.40 – St James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup

Back Bar is the horse in question, a prolific winning point to pointer for Alan Hill. He was not able to get as close to the front as he likes at Warwick in a hunter chase last time but was still in with a chance as they jumped three out. Very soft ground on that occasion was not to his liking but he shaped with more than enough promise to be confident that a sounder surface can see him run well.

The winner of that race was Latenightpass who is a 16-1 shot for this prize. Back Bar beat that horse when they had met back in February 2020 before absolutely skating up in December, beating a field that racing fans will remember from their time under rules.

This will be by far the toughest assignment of his career but the more the ground dries out, the more he will like it and on his best point efforts, there is no way that he should be a 100-1 shot should things fall in his favour on Friday week.

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