Cheltenham Festival Day 2

The racing on the first day of Cheltenham was crazy, it had everything. The betting went ok. We had the winner of the Arkle, Duc Des Genievres at 7-1 and very nearly finished the day with another 7-1 winner in Discorama. If anybody but Jamie Codd was riding Le Breuil, I’m adamant Discorama would have won.

The second day of the festival isn’t my favourite but we'll give it a go.

The Ballymore kicks things off, I’ve backed Sams Profile EW & Brewin’upastorm EW. Plenty of bookies are paying 4 places whilst don’t forget the Skybet money back offer.

Sams Profile 2^nd in a Grade 1 at Naas reads well. He was only two lengths behind Battleoverdoyen who is the 2^nd favourite for this race. The extra furlong and more testing track will suit Sams Profile. Trainer, Mouse Morris only run horses at Cheltenham that he thinks can go well. Odds of 10-1 EW look fine.

Brewin’upastrom was in front when falling at Cheltenham when last seen, he’s was also beaten fair and square by Champ a few runs back. However, Brewin’upastorm look in need of a test and he’ll get that today with the extra furlong and sticky ground. Richard Johnson stays on top, I expect Brewin’upastorm to finish the race strongly. 15-2 EW is fair.

Topofthegame is improving with each start and should run well race in the RSA at 2:10. He was unlucky not to get very close to Defi Du Seuil at Exeter, lost ground at the start. Next time he gave 7lb to the smart La Bague Au Roi and maybe hit the front a bit early. Santini hasn’t had a great prep and i'm not sure on the form of Delta Work. Topofthegame seems the safest selection. He can be backed EW at 4-1.

The Queen Mother is a two horse race, Altior and Min. It’s a shame the same horses keep taking on Altior and we don’t have much coming through the ranks in a bid to challenge him. Altior jumped terribly left when last seen in a three-horse race. He doesn’t want to be doing that today. Min is priced at 4-1 and that’s worth taking. I think Min will give Altior a proper race and this could be much closer than people think.

Tiger Roll will take all the beating in the Cross Country Chase, priced at 11-8. At a bigger odds, Fact Of The Matter looks overpriced and holds a good EW chance.

The bumper at 5:30 is always good fun. It’s intresting Wille Mullins only runs once horse in this years renewl. I think this could be a first, and perhaps a clue to the chances of Blue Sari who was very impressive on debut.  J P McManus purchased him afterwards, he’ll do for me.