On to Wednesday and there is only one race to get excited about, the Champion Chase. Shishkin vs Energumene round 2, with the added spice that the market and connections have been very bullish about Chacun Pour Soi. This has the potential to be a race for the age and whichever team you are on, it looks likely to be a race to savor. Away from the championship race, we also have the Champion Bumper to end the card, another race that always seems to yield major clues for the festivals of the future. Here are Wednesday’s best bets.
NAP
2:10pm Brown Advisory Novice Chase – BRAVEMANSGAME
Paul Nicholls didn’t have a winner at Cheltenham in 2021, but that trend can’t last long and probably his best chance this week comes in the form of BRAVEMANSGAME. The champion trainer will hopefully be rewarded for an aggressive campaign with his leading novice, who has already beaten more experienced rivals at Newton Abbot and Newbury. His Grade 1 win over Ahoy Senor in the Kauto Star at Kempton on Boxing Day looks to be a very strong piece of form and although the Cheltenham Old Course should suit Lucinda Russells charge better than Kempton did, he has too much to find to entirely reverse the form. A sound jumper who looks likely to stay further than this, Bravemansgame should be able to dictate and set a steady rhythm before outclassing his rivals on the climb up to the line.
NB
4:10pm Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase – TIGER ROLL
Ignore the saga about his official rating and the weight he was allotted for the Grand National. TIGER ROLL is a fantastic horse. A 5-time Cheltenham festival winner who has been trained to perfection to win this race on 3 previous occasions. His entire season has been billed around a return to Cheltenham for a record equaling 6th victory and he looks to have a favourites chance. We can largely ignore his form over fences since last year and he travelled well for a long way in a Handicap hurdle at Navan in January before being outpaced, a run not too dissimilar to his prep run for this race 12-months ago. Gordon Elliott knows him so well and with have planned his preparation to the minute, which should leave him in top form. If he arrives in the same form as he did 12-months ago, he will prove very hard to beat.
BEST EACH-WAY
2:50pm Coral Cup – GOWEL ROAD
The Coral Cup is normally a cavalry charge, run at a fierce gallop from start to finish and that should suit Nigel Twiston-Davies’ GOWEL ROAD perfectly. A winner here over hurdles in November, a mark of 145 isn’t a freebie, but he looks to have stamina in abundance and should be ideally suited by the strong pace and stiff finish. The yard has had horses run well in this race in the past, including Ballyandy who placed in 2019 with a very similar profile to Gowel Road. We can upgrade his last run when he finished 2nd to Metier at Lingfield on deep ground, as the track and stop/start nature of the race were never likely to play to his strengths. Back on a more galloping track in a big field, he should be doing his best work in the closing stages and that rates him an excellent each-way chance.
