Horse Racing Tips: Ruby Walsh’s 11/1 Ryanair Chase ante-post pick for the Cheltenham Festival

Ruby says Nicky Henderson's Jonbon is the value each-way selection for the Ryanair Chase - IF connections decide to step him up in trip.

By / Cheltenham Festival, Horse Racing Tips / 10 months ago

*Odds quoted on the widget are Future Racing / Antepost prices which means that if your selection does not run in the race for whatever reason – you will lose your stake under traditional Antepost rules.

Ruby Walsh’s Ryanair Chase Antepost Tips:

Jonbon (each-way)

Our ‘Cheltenham Countdown podcast’ returns for the build up to the 2024 Cheltenham Festival and in Episode 1, host Tom Nugent, jockey turned tv pundit Ruby Walsh and well-known journalist and broadcaster Rory Delargy – look at the Ryanair Chase on day three of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.

RUBY WALSH

Willie Mullins trains Allaho and he’s the favourite in the ante-post market. After a year out he was workmanlike at Clonmel and had to improve to win a King George VI Chase at Kempton and I don’t think he improved enough. Hewick won it and I suppose when I watched the King George, they didn’t go quick for the first circuit yet Allaho looked like he was going as quick as he wanted to go. That wasn’t the Allaho that won the 2021 or 2022 Ryanair where he blew horses away in the first mile.

He didn’t look like he wanted to be going any faster in the King George and that to me was a sign that he’ll have to improve a good bit from the King George and find that spark again.

Allaho wins races in the first mile rather than in the last mile of a race. He wasn’t able to do it in the King George and he’ll have to be able to do that if he’s going to win the Ryanair Chase. I don’t think it was tactics that saw him beaten at Kempton – if Allaho was on song, the jockey doesn’t ride Allaho, Allaho literallytells the jockey what he’s doing.

He’s been 100 per cent since – all systems go. But he has to find that spark if he’s going to win the Ryanair Chase.

Willie Mullins also has Appreciate It and he could be a live contender. I thought he ran really well in the Savills Chase behind Galopin Des Champs. I don’t think he stayed. It was easy to say ‘well if he didn’t stay in the Savills, it didn’t look like he stayed in last year’s Golden Miller (Turners Novice Chase) how does he turn the form around with Stage Star from last year’s Turners Novice Chase. Harry Cobden was in the right place all throughout that race, Mighty Potter, Davy Russell, Appreciate It, Paul Townend were just too far off him in a slowly-run race. They could never peg back Harry Cobden and Stage Star.

Appreciate It looks a bit of value but the more I look at the race there’s one runner who should be backed ante-post and that’s Jonbon at the prices. To me it’s a ‘traditional’ ante-post bet as if he turns up in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot next week and gets kicked out of the way by El Fabiolo, there’s every chance Jonbon could run in the Ryanair Chase. That to me is an ante-post bet as you’re trying to anticipate the market in advance.

 

 

If he turns up in the Ryanair Chase, what price is he going to be, 6/4? If El Fabiolo blows him out of the way in the Clarence House, Jonbon is not going to be a double-figure price for the Ryanair Chase. That to me is what ante-post betting is – small stakes, you’re taking a chance, but if he lines up, you’re holding the right ticket.

Look at what owner JP McManus has in this division. He has Dinoblue and Gentleman De Mee. If Gentleman De Mee wins at the Dublin Racing Festival and gets to Cheltenham, he can kind of say ‘well I have Gentleman De Mee for that, I have Jonbon for the Ryanair, I have Dinoblue for the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase.’ When you look at it and think about it, I can make a case for Jonbon potentially ending up in the Ryanair Chase and that’s enough to have some sort of a flutter.

I thought Envoi Allen was a great price earlier in the season, when he was double figures. He’s now shorter which is just about right, Appreciate It is a good price too but he was bigger last week as well. They’re angles, but Jonbon is an ante-post pick on the off chance he gets blown out of the water in the Clarence House Chase by El Fabiolo and connections have a rethink. The chances are he won’t take on El Fabiolo at Ascot, he’ll rock up in the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury and run in the Champion Chase.

But if things don’t work out, I will go for him as an ante-post play in the Ryanair Chase.

    Ruby Walsh’s Ryanair Chase Antepost Tips:

    Jonbon (each-way)

    *Odds quoted on the widget are Future Racing / Antepost prices which means that if your selection does not run in the race for whatever reason – you will lose your stake under traditional Antepost rules.

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