The Cheltenham Festival is beginning to come firmly into view and Telegraph Sport is here to help you sharpen up your punting portfolios ahead of the most exciting four days in jump racing.
Between now and the opening day of the meeting, Telegraph Sport will bring you a host of top selections from handicaps to the Gold Cup itself that will hopefully help you to turn a profit at the meeting.
Each week, new selections from our team of crack tipsters will be posted on this page along with advised prices. We will also offer you new trends every few days focussing on a different race at the meeting to further inform your selections.
Whistler tips
Tripoli Flyer (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – March 11)
advised each-way at 20-1
One of the horses we have already put up for the Supreme is Kopek Des Bordes after his 13 length romp at Leopardstown meaning he will be the highest rated runner going to this race since Altior.
The race may have one potential star but beyond him it does not look as a deep as it can be so the double figure price for Fergal O’Brien’s six-year-old who has won his last three starts now looks good each-way value.
His seven and a half length beating of Miami Magic, a very useful yardstick, in the Dovecote at Kempton puts him in with an excellent shout.
Already tipped
Telegraph Sport tips
Golden Ace (Mares’ Hurdle – March 11)
win at 7/1
This looks big one of the bets of the meeting but it is still contingent on race plans falling the right way. Brighterdaysahead is a worthy favourite for the race but looks likely to go to the Champion Hurdle, while connections of Lossiemouth remain committed to that target as well – at least for now.
Even if the latter did pitch up here, I’d like the chance to take her on on the back of a heavy fall at Leopardstown earlier this month.
Golden Ace bounced back to form at Wincanton in the Kingwell, showing excellent stamina reserves to wear down favourite Burdett Road. She is already a festival winner (last year’s mares’ novice) and looks primed for a strong end to the season with trainer Jeremy Scott seemingly coming out of tough patch with his runners.
Other Irish mares will likely be a shorter price even if the big two go for the Champion but this is one race in which Britain might just hold the edge.
Already tipped
Big-race trends
Tuesday
Supreme Novices’ Hurdle
Opening race of the meeting and one that often sets the tone for much of action on the course for the week to come.
There are both key things to ignore and key things to factor into your selection here. Winners in the last 12 years after all been five or six years of age, bar one, while ten of those winners were also successful last time out.
Eight of the last 12 winners were trained in Ireland, with five of those winning the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown the month before the meeting.
Less important is course form (this always tends to be the case in novice races) but it is still worth noting that only four of the last 12 winners had run at Cheltenham before taking the race.
Arkle Novices’ Chase
A race in which it has paid to note the top of the market in recent seasons, with all but one of the last seven winners returning as favourite and 11 of the last 12 winning on their run prior to the festival.
This race is one for precocious, talented jumpers, with nine of the last 12 winners rated at 157 heading into the race and with ten of those 12 boasting at least one win at Grade 1 or Grade 2 level heading into the contest.
If there is one race at the Cheltenham where the trends offer up a compelling case for a winner time and again, this is it.
Champion Hurdle
Check the top of the market. Ten of the last 12 winners of the Champion Hurdle have been sent off favourite or joint-favourite, with only one during that time returning at double-figure odds.
As you’d expect with the above stat in mind, 11 of the past 12 winners won on their last run prior to the festival, with the same number having had at least one run at Cheltenham before. Eight of the last 12 have at least one win at Cheltenham.
Age is also a consideration, with ten of the last 12 being between six and eight.
Wednesday
Turners Novices Hurdle
Another race where market prominence is a big factor. Ten of the last 12 have been sent of either favourite or joint-favourite with ten also having been trained in Ireland.
In what is are important considerations for novice races, every winner had at least 2 runs over hurdles, with 11 of winners boasting at least two wins over hurdles coming into Cheltenham.
Something to pay less attention to is course form, with just three winners having run at Cheltenham before – not a surprise given it’s a novice race and has been dominated by Irish horses.
