The 7 best Cheltenham tips for Friday’s festival card
Winning a Cheltenham Gold Cup is hard. Winning it twice is harder.
You might think that the best could remain the best for more than one year, but in fact only four (L’Escargot, Best Mate, Kauto Star and Al Boum Photo) have returned to triumph again since the majestic Arkle ran up a hat-trick in the mid-sixties.
So, what’s so special about Galopin Des Champs, back to defend his crown on Friday afternoon?
Well, for a start he’s trained by Willie Mullins and nobody has ever had such a fierce grip on the high end of National Hunt racing, on either side of the Irish Sea, as this astonishing achiever has these days.
Mullins actually suffered several Gold Cup near-misses until Al Boum Photo first won in 2019 and now he has an insatiable taste for it.
The most recent evidence gives Galopin Des Champs a favourite’s chance of winning Mullins his fourth Gold Cup in six years, but he’ll need to be in the form he was in when thumping Fastorslow at Leopardstown last month, rather than when twice beaten by the same horse in the autumn.
Fastorslow was handicapping a year ago, beaten by the subsequent Grand National winner Corach Rambler in the Ultima Chase, but if beating Galopin Des Champs once was dismissed as a fluke, beating him twice marked him down as a serious opponent, not to be underrated in any company.
Corach Rambler is going for the National again, but this is no gentle prep. His trademark is weaving through tiring opposition for a late strike and if they go off too fast, he’ll be picking up the pieces at the finish.
Go back a year again and Bravemansgame is also firmly in the frame. He proved no match for Galopin Des Champs, but fared best of the rest.
Three straight defeats this season do not inspire confidence, but there have been rational excuses each time and his trainer Paul Nicholls has certainly not lost faith in him.
Gerri Colombe is among others in the mix on the pick of his form and, by extension, the 40-1 outsider The Real Whacker, who held him off in a thriller at last year’s festival.
Shishkin, brilliant on his day, would have been a tempting alternative to Galopin Des Champs, but he’s one of the big names Nicky Henderson has been compelled to withdraw due to a bug going around his stable.
Cheltenham 2024 tips, day three
- 1.30pm Nurburgring 7-1
- 2.10pm L’Eau Du Sud (Best Bet) 5-1
- 2.50pm High Class Hero (Each-Way) 9-1
- 3.30pm (Gold Cup)
- 1) Galopin Des Champs 1-1
- 2) Fastorslow 5-1
- 3) Bravemansgame 14-1
- 4.10pm Ferns Lock 3-1
- 4.50pm Allegorie De Vassy 5-1
- 5.30pm Answer To Kayf (Next Best) 9-1
Odds correct on 14 March via Oddschecker
And just to complete his miserable week, Henderson will now also be minus his banker, Sir Gino, the long-time hot favourite for the Triumph Hurdle, leaving another Cheltenham Grade One at the mercy of the Irish.
Some shrewd pundits have been shouting Mullins’ Majborough from the rooftops since he was placed in a Leopardstown Grade One last month and he’s now favourite.
But Joseph O’Brien’s Nurburgring gets the nod after a similarly eye-catching effort at the same venue on Boxing Day.
