Horse Racing Betting Tips: Ilikedwayurthinkin looks the Chosen one in the lucky last
THEY say you should always save the best till last and that may well be the case when it comes to the final race of the meeting, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (5.30pm).
Owner JP McManus has had an extraordinary week already and holds strong claims with the Joseph O’Brien-trained favourite Front View.
They teamed up to win the Festival finale 12 months ago with Early Doors and this unexposed five-year-old looks to be cut from a similar cloth.
He was second to Ballymore winner Envoi Allen three starts back and didn’t get the run of the race at Thurles last time where the winner came across him before the last.
The O’Brien runner is much respected at 9/2. However, there looks a bit of value in siding with the owner’s supposed second string ILIKEDWAYURTHINKIN at 6/1 for trainer Gavin Cromwell.
He kept on in eye-catching fashion over an inadequate two miles at Leopardstown last time and this step up in trip looks ideal.
Cromwell’s inmate was an impressive winner at the Galway Festival over 2m5f and you feel this race has been earmarked for a while for this son of Yeats.
Gordon Elliott had a long association with the Pipe yard before taking out a training licence in his own name so always fires some decent bullets at the race.
Both Column Of Fire and The Bosses Oscar are bound to be on the premises, with the former looking the more likely contender based on his performances so far this term.
Last year’s winner Hazel Hill is favourite to win the St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase (4.10pm), but he hasn’t been in quite the same form this term.
It looks a really good race this afternoon with classy horses like Don Poli and Minella Rocco, both of whom hit the frame in the Gold Cup in the past, in the line-up.
I’m going to take a chance on last year’s runner-up SHANTOU FLYER who has looked in even better form this campaign since switching to Rose Loxton’s yard.
He’s unbeaten in both starts for Loxton including a 23-length victory at Fakenham last time and he has good amateur David Maxwell in the saddle again.
He looks the call at 8/1 with Paddy Power.
Finally, finding the winner of the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual (4.50pm) has always been a tough task.
There has been a word all week for the Paul Nicholls-trained Greaneteen who could be dangerously well-handicapped.
The six-year-old has the right profile for this race and has won five of his seven starts for Nicholls.
However, he has been well found in the market and the 4/1 on offer seems a bit skinny to me for one with so little experience.
Instead, I’m going to side with two Irish-trained runners in CHOSEN MATE and PALOMA BLUE.
The former is really starting to get his act together over fences and ran out a really impressive winner at Gowran Park last time.
He was a Grade Two winner over hurdles and the feeling is that this race may have been his target for some time.
At 11/2 with Coral he looks a rock solid each-way call with the Elliott and Davy Russell combination in such good form this week.
Paloma Blue may well have been deserted by Russell, but he is another one I cannot help but have a few quid each-way on.
He was destined to hit the very top a couple of years ago and don’t forget he was fourth in the 2018 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and sixth in last year’s Arkle.
Admittedly he hasn’t hit the heights his connections may have expected, but he’s clearly a horse with ability.
He travels well in his races and in such an open renewal could easily surprise a few here at a best-priced 11/1.
POINTERS
Shantou Flyer e/w 4.10pm Cheltenham
Chosen Mate e/w 4.10pm Cheltenham
Paloma Blue e/w 4.50pm Cheltenham
Ilikedwayurthinkin e/w 5.30pm Cheltenham