RUBY WALSH
BALLYANDY @ 22/1
I was all over Epatante for a long time. Ever since I saw her at Kempton at Christmas I thought she was the most impressive I’d seen.
But the rain will be a little worry for me here. I’ve been looking at her form and she has some pedigree on soft ground, but that was in Saint-Cloud way back in November 2017.
I can excuse her run here last year when finishing a lowly ninth after jumping very poorly. In fact she did well to even be involved in the race at all that day.
Pentland Hills has backers but his finishing efforts have been too weak for me. Cilaos Emery has been supplemented but he has to handle the preliminaries. Add to that his worst showing over hurdles was probably here in the Supreme.
All the latest racing odds are over on PP.com nowDarver Star has been a rapidly improving horse. Sharjah won’t have wanted the rain that fell. Supasundae at 10 is dropping back to two miles. He’s always looks like a horse that wanted a little bit further. He’ll be staying on, but is hard to fancy with his age. Coeur Sublime is only a five-year-old.
I think it’s a very hard race to pick the winner of. It’s not a bad race, it’s a good one, and there’s a lot of decent horses in here.
But picking a winner of it is tricky. Ballyandy could be the best to back though. He’ll be coming home strong and handles soft ground.
READ MORE: Ruby Walsh’s SIX best bets for Day One at Cheltenham
PADDY POWER
SUPASUNDAE @ 10/1
I’m all over Supasundae. I like him so much he’s my best bet of the day. This is his sixth time coming to Cheltenham and he’s got wins under his belt.
He took the Coral Cup back in 2017 and has won other Grade 1 races. I think he’ll be staying on towards the finish. At 10/1 he could get involved and just stick his head out in front.
FRANK HICKEY
CILAOS EMERY @ 13/2
It would be good to hear how Cilaos Emery has travelled over. There’s a bit of a worry about him after he didn’t journey over well three years ago for the Supreme.
But I think if he’s travelled over OK then he’ll be the main danger to Epatante. Cilaos Emery is the one I like here.
All prices correct at time of publishing
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- Ruby Walsh’s Cheltenham Festival Cheat Sheet
- Frank Hickey’s 3 horses he fancies who are well handicapped
- Frank Hickey is taking on these 4 favourites at the Festival