Paddy’s 5 best-backed NRMB horses for the Cheltenham Festival
- Teeshan, Champion Bumper (17:30)
- Ginny’s Destiny, Turners Novices’ Chase (13:30)
- Buddy One, Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (15:30)
- Ethical Diamond, Triumph Hurdle (13:30)
- Sa Majeste, Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (17:30)
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widget, while in-copy odds are accurate at the time of publication but subject to change.
Wednesday, March 13
Teeshan, Champion Bumper (17:30)
Champion trainer Paul Nicholls has a few possibilities for this contest, but this strapping Westerner gelding Teeshan has really caught punters’ imagination since we introduced the popular NRMB concession. An unchallenged winner of an Irish point at Loughanmore in October, he was snapped up by one of Nicholls’ principal owners, Johnny de la Hey. That investment looked shrewd after he justified odds-on favouritism on his racecourse bow at Exeter earlier this month.
Jockey Harry Cobden had his charge prominent that day, and after a shake of the reins two furlongs out, the pair went clear to score easily by seven lengths from Peacenik. Another of Nicholls’ possible combatants, Quebecois, might be better suited to Aintree, and the way Teeshan has been backed, he could give his handler a first victory in this event.
Thursday, March 14
Ginny’s Destiny, Turners Novices’ Chase (13:30)
Anything Mullins can do, Paul Nicholls can emulate, and he also gets a second on the list courtesy of this eight-year-old Ginny’s Destiny who has won his last three starts at Cheltenham for the Somerset sorcerer.
Quite how he got beaten on his debut for Nicholls in a novices’ handicap chase at Cheltenham in October off a mark of 135 is anybody’s guess, as he’s now rated 155, but perhaps it was just because it was his first start with a new trainer.
He then won a similar event the following month, a novices’ chase at Cheltenham in December, and then back in handicap company in January, got the better of Theatre Man by two and three-quarter lengths.
Four previous runs at Prestbury Park over course and distance should put him in good stead, although this is a massive step up in class.
Thursday, March 14
Buddy One, Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (15:30)
An intriguing inclusion in this list as Co Galway trainer Paul Gilligan’s Buddy One is still a big double-figure price despite his popularity. This fellow was a winning favourite at his local track, Galway, in a handicap hurdle in October, and he again landed the odds the following month at Cheltenham in the Paddy Power Games Handicap Hurdle off a rating of 147.
He was then dramatically upped in class in the Grade 1 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse, in which he was well beaten before disappointing last time in Leopardstown’s Christmas Hurdle.
Backers seem happy enough to excuse those efforts, possibly because the Fairyhouse reversal was down in trip over two and a half miles. While at Leopardstown, Gilligan explained that the gelding scoped wrong after the race.
Friday, March 15
Ethical Diamond, Triumph Hurdle (13:30)
Another Mullins-trained inclusion in this list, Ethical Diamond, is a big price for this contest, which doesn’t appear too surprising at first glance, as he has yet to win over timber.
The winner of a mile-and-a-half maiden on the Flat for previous handler Michael O’Meara, the Awtaad gelding was beaten over 30 lengths when sent off 6-5 favourite for his hurdling bow at Leopardstown in December.
That didn’t seem to bother Mullins too much as he was next pitched into the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival last month when he put in a much-improved effort to finish sixth but only going down by just over five lengths. If he makes that much progress again before his next outing, the money may not be misplaced.
Friday, March 15
Sa Majeste, Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (17:30)
A look at Willie Mullins’s four previous winners of this race – Sir Des Champs, Don Poli, Killultagh Vic and Galopin Des Champs – is a possible indication of why this chap has been so popular for a fiendishly difficult handicap.
The six-year-old Sa Majeste scooped a hurdle at Auteuil in France in 2022 before transferring to Mullins’s Closutton nerve centre, and like a lot of horses formerly trained across the English Channel, disappointed on his first start in Ireland despite being furiously backed.
However, Sa Majeste made amends in no uncertain terms when going clear on the run-in to land a Limerick hurdle over Christmas, and he is one of those horses that can be put in the ‘could be anything’ category, having been given a handicap mark of 140.
Paddy’s 5 best-backed NRMB horses for the Cheltenham Festival
- Teeshan, Champion Bumper (17:30)
- Ginny’s Destiny, Turners Novices’ Chase (13:30)
- Buddy One, Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (15:30)
- Ethical Diamond, Triumph Hurdle (13:30)
- Sa Majeste, Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (17:30)
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widget, while in-copy odds are accurate at the time of publication but subject to change
Read More
- Gallop over to Paddy Power News for all the latest horse racing tips
- Cheltenham Tips: Ruby Walsh’s 9/1 and 12/1 non runner money back Hunters Chase picks
- Cheltenham Tips: A Lucky 15 to set the scene from Mick Fitzgerald
- Cheltenham Tips: Rory Delargy’s 9/1 Hunters Chase Non Runner Money Back Bet
- Cheltenham Tips: Matt Chapman’s non runner money back picks include a 16/1 play on the opening day
- Cheltenham Free Bet Offers: Why Paddy’s better than the rest for Festival fun
The Paddy Power Guide To Safer Gambling – Everything You Need To Know
