Two Cheltenham Festival handicap hopes that could have plenty in hand

The weights for the handicaps at next month’s Cheltenham Festival were announced recently and there’s plenty to consider between now and the big event. At first glance there are a couple of really standout candidates that could be well ahead of the handicapper. We’ll assess their chances and consider how much they could have in hand. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.

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Milan Tino

The handicapper has given this horse an absolute freebie in all honesty and he has no excuse if failing to run a massive race in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle. Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm’s four-year-old has been dropped an astonishing 10lb for finishing third behind Triumph favourite Sir Gino last time out.

All four of his starts to date have come in Listed grade or higher and he has acquitted himself well, never failing to finish outside of the first three. Milan Tino is going to face a much bigger field than he’s used to, which appears to be the only negative, but he should be bang in the mix nonetheless.

Sa Majeste

This Willie Mullins-trained gelding heads the market for both the Coral Cup and the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle. It’s certainly easy to see why and the handicapper really struggled to give this unknown quantity a mark.

His latest performance when beating Noble Yeats in a race at Limerick was apparently somewhere between 130 and 150. With that in mind, you can understand the handicapper’s decision to give him a mark which is bang in the middle. There’s undoubtedly loads more to come from this thoroughly unexposed sort and he could have any amount in hand.

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