Staring down the barrel of a massive payout
THE first big Cheltenham story of the week could be as much about Paddy Power as the horses after we promised to refund all losing bets on today’s second race, the Arkle, if Sprinter Sacre wins.
Jockey Barry Geraghty has been waxing lyrical about this horse and thinks we are stone mad, and we probably are. We are staring at a £2 million refund if he wins and worse than that will lose about £4 million if Al Ferof wins as anyone and everyone who is backing Al Ferof is understandably doing it with us!
I’d love to say Menorah will win but it’ll be Sprinter Sacre for sure and many will be doubling up on him with Quevega who looks a penalty kick with no keeper in the Mares’ hurdle.
The big race today is obviously the Champion Hurdle and the first reigning Champ to defend his crown will be Hurricane Fly who looks pretty bombproof. The only danger is if Binocular is back to his very best, but even then that might not be good enough.