The 7 best Cheltenham tips for Wednesday’s festival card
For many purists, Wednesday’s Queen Mother Champion Chase is the race of the Cheltenham Festival, the ultimate examination of jumping fences at speed. Whatever wins can indeed be called a champion.
Ironically, the two main protagonists in today’s two-miler, El Fabiolo and Jonbon, have come under scrutiny for their jumping prowess; El Fabiolo for aesthetics (he’s often less than fluent) and Jonbon for the howler which cost him a victory on Trials Day.
That said, neither have ever fallen, while between them winning 20 of their 24 races for trainers Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson. El Fabiolo has the better recent form, so he’ll do for me.
A belated change to front-running tactics at Newbury last month produced an imperious blast from the past from Edwardstone; Paul Townend (El Fabiolo) and Nico de Boinville (Jonbon) will need to be careful not to give him too much rope.
Torrential rain has swamped Cheltenham, rendering the ground on its three courses the heaviest it has been since 2016 and putting today’s Cross Country Chase in jeopardy.
There is an inspection this morning with contingency plans to run the race instead on Friday.
Minella Indo, the 2021 Gold Cup hero, is favourite to shine in his new discipline for owner Barry Maloney, trainer Henry de Bromhead and jockey Rachel Blackmore, but even if they have to wait a couple of days, there is still plenty to occupy their minds this afternoon as new star Monty’s Star takes the stage in the Brown Advisory Chase.
Monty’s Star will likely start third favourite behind Fact To File and Stay Away Fay, both tipped by their respective trainers, Willie Mullins and Paul Nicholls, to be Gold Cup winners themselves one day.
Fact To File, a leading bumper horse last season, has skipped a hurdling campaign to go straight over fences and he has certainly looked the part while twice brushing aside smart rivals at Leopardstown.
Confidence in the Mullins camp could not be higher, but this is his first try at three miles and any stamina limitations will surely be found out on this energy-sapping surface.
Monty’s Star proved that he stays this trip, and probably beyond, when seeing off a solid yardstick at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve. The further he went, the better he went.
Cheltenham 2024 tips, day two
- 1.30pm Ballyburn 4-9
- 2.10pm Monty’s Star (Best Bet) 6-1
- 2.50pm Lucky Place (Each-Way) 18-1
- 3.30pm El Fabiolo 4-7
- 4.10pm Minella Indo 9-4
- 4.50pm Libberty Hunter (Next Best) 13-2
- 5.30 Jalon D’oudairies 15-2
Odds correct on 12 March via Oddschecker
Stay Away Fay also has stamina to spare, as he showed when gutsing it out in the Albert Bartlett Hurdle last March.
He has an edge over Monty’s Star on form, but we most likely haven’t yet seen the best of the half-brother to the same connections’ high-class staying chaser Monalee, runner-up in this contest in 2018.
