Four of the six odds-on favourites over the first two days of this year’s festival were beaten, leaving many punters in a deep hole ahead of the last day of the meeting on Friday. It will be the most significant shock of all, however, if Galopin Des Champs (4.00) does not deliver for the backers in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and join the very select list of horses to have won the race three times.
Having beaten double-figure fields in the last two runnings, Willie Mullins’s chaser faces eight opponents this time around, and while the unexpected addition of Inothewayurthinkin, the favourite for next month’s Grand National, to the lineup adds some intrigue, he was seven lengths behind Galopin Des Champs at Leopardstown.
Unlike Banbridge, the King George VI Chase winner at Kempton in December, Inothewayurthinkin should improve for this return to further than three miles, but the same is undoubtedly true of the favourite and Galopin Des Champs’ place in the pantheon appears to be there for the taking.
Cheltenham 1.20 James Owen’s East India Dock has already posted two outstanding performances for a juvenile at this track when successful at both the November and December meetings. Both wins were recorded in notably fast times and a repeat of either performance would probably be enough here, although further progress from this hugely promising four-year-old would be no great surprise either.
Cheltenham 2.00 A fast pace looks certain even with a relatively small field of 16 for the County Hurdle, and that should play to the strengths of Willie Mullins’s Kargese as the trainer looks for a sixth win in this race in the last 11 years.
Cheltenham 2.40 Dinoblue looked a little unlucky to come up three-quarters of a length short of the re-opposing Limerick Lace in this race 12 months ago, when she was more patiently ridden than usual attempting the trip for the first time. A reversion to more aggressive tactics could see her turn around the form.
Quick Guide
Greg Wood’s Friday tips
Show
Cheltenham 1.20 East India Dock (nap) 2.00 Kargese (nb) 2.40 Dinoblue 3.20 Wendigo 4.00 Galopin Des Champs 4.40 Angels Dawn 5.20 Kopeck De Mee
Fakenham 1.35 Zafaan 2.14 Taxus Baccata 2.54 Jackpot Cash 3.34 Little Soiree 4.15 Bluegrass 4.55 Go Go Geronimo
Doncaster 1.42 Our Lil 2.22 Reallyntruthfully 3.02 Burrows Hall 3.40 Diamond Dealer 4.25 Baby Chou 5.00 Jaffa Cake
Southwell 4.20 Captain Parma 4.50 Fulford Cross 5.30 Romantic Opera 6.00 King Of York 6.30 Legal Reform 7.00 Feel The Need 7.30 Fivethousandtoone 8.00 Sax Appeal 8.30 Commander Of Life
Wolverhampton 5.10 Hoodie Hoo 5.45 Atlantic Sunset 6.20 Tempus 6.50 Stroxx 7.20 Rogue Tornado 7.50 Mr Trick 8.20 Tuco Salamanca
Cheltenham 3.20 The most unpredictable Grade One at the meeting, with just one winner at a single-figure price in the last 11 years, but it looks like the right spot for Jamie Snowden’s Wendigo, the runner-up behind Wednesday’s Turners Novice Hurdle winner, The New Lion, in the Challow at Newbury in December.
Cheltenham 4.40 Angels Dawn has a decent record here, having won the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir in 2023, and was still travelling well when she fell five out in the same race last season. This looks an easier assignment and she gets a useful 7lb mares’ allowance from her 23 rivals.
Cheltenham 5.20 It must have been a thankless task for the handicapper to rate Kopeck De Mee, who was bought by JP McManus after a Listed win in France in May 2024, and he could well take this race apart on his handicap debut.