2010 CHELTENAM FESTIVAL BETTING GUIDE – HOW MANY IRISH WINNERS

William Hill has opened up an extensive specialty market for the 2010 Cheltenham Festival and one of the most consistently popular special bets is always the amount of Irish Invaders who come out winners. The favoured outcome this year is somewhere between 7 and 9 with 8 being the lowest-priced at 11/4. Nine Irish winners pays out at 7/2 while exactly 7 Irish winners rewards at 4/1.
If you think exactly 10 Irish winners is the right call, you’re looking at 13/2 while 6 winners pays out at 7/1. Five winners rewards at 10/1 while 11 or more will pay out at 8/1 and up to and including 4 winners will pay out at a very solid 14/1. If you’re looking to bet against the Irish jumpers that last option is certainly a decent value bet.
Keep in mind that the ladies charity races are not included in this betting market.
So, which races look likely to be won by Irish horses and which races have an Irish horse well poised for an upset? Dunguib is one of the main festival bankers and he is undefeated this year. You’ll find him leading the line for the Supreme Novices while his three closest contenders Get Me Out of Here, Menorah and Oscar Whiskey are also all Irish.
Captain Cee Bee is a big contender for the 2010 Arkle as he looks to build on his Supreme Novices victory from last year. The JP McManus-owned Irish jumper is well-poised to score here. Somersby and Sizing Europe are also Irish-born contenders.
In the William Hill Trophy Chase two of three main contenders are Irish, including slim favourite Bensalem as well as the talented Calgary Bay. This is one of the more wide-open races at the festival though and I could see a big price coming in here.
The 2010 Champion Hurdle doesn’t look like it’s going Irish at the moment with none of the top contenders hailing from the Green Isle. Your best bet here might be an upset win for the under-rated Celestial Halo.
The Glenfarclas Handicap Chase looks to be another duel between French long-distance specialists L’Ami and Garde Champetre. Sizing Australia is an Irish contender here, but I really think this one is between the two talented French jumpers.
The 2nd place contender in the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle is Voler La Vedette who, despite having the Frenchest name in the universe, hails from Ireland and is well-priced. This one looks to be a two-horse race between Quevega and VLV, while Irish jumper Whiteoak could also make a statement if we get an upset here.
The National Hunt Challenge Cup is one of the most wide-open races at the entire festival, but five of the top six contenders are Irish, so this one could be a real feather in the cap of Irish punters.
The Neptune Investment Hurdle has Rite of Passage, an English horse, priced as the fairly solid favourite, but there are plenty of Irish contenders here including the undefeated Peddlers Cross.
In the 2010 RSA Chase, we have a few Irish runners set to compete with Weird Al and Weapons Amnesty being the favoured Irish selections. Both of them are around 10/1 and will need to top the talented Punchestowns (who isn’t Irish despite the name) if they are going to pull off any big scores here.
The 2010 Champion Chase is a tough one for Irish fans with three French horses being the lead contenders. If you’re going to back Irish jumpers here, you’re likely looking at Big Zeb and fan-favourite Forpadydeplasterer.
Jonjo O’Neill’s Open Day is the 3rd favourite in the Fred Winter and he’s been in some very good form of late and could pull something off here. I expect him to team up with A P McCoy as they look to get the better of the field. This is a very open race and could go in any direction.
Irish Novice Elegant Concorde is the favourite for the Champion Bumper, but he faces plenty of competition from a supremely talented field. Four of the top six contenders here hail from Ireland so this isn’t a bad choice here.
Five of the top six for the Jewson Novices’ Handicap Chase are Irish-trained and I expect them to put together a very strong challenge for this wide-open race, with Sunnyhillboy and Fistral Beach being my main choices.
The Pertemps Final has some Irish jumpers competing, but the French look to be sowing this one up with some strong English talent also set to line-up. This is probably one that won’t wind up in Irish hands.
Irish star Tranquil Sea takes on the talented Poquelin and Barbers Shop in the 2010 Ryanair Chase and he is likely Ireland’s best chance here. Schindler’s Hunt is another Irish contender, but there is plenty of French and English jumpers in strong contention here.
The 2010 World Hurdle will need a challenger like Tidal Bay to pull off a big upset over fancied French runner Big Buck’s. The venerable War of Attrition will be out representing Ireland and could roll back the years to pull off a very exciting victory here. I’m up in the air about Irish contention in the World Hurdle though- Big Bucks looks like he has this one sorted.
A fair amount of Irish contenders will be lining up for the Byrne Group Plate, one of the more under-rated races at the festival this year. It’s a tough one to handicap and it could go in any direction. There isn’t an overwhelming amount of strong challengers though so I don’t necessarily see an Irish victory.
Four of the top five in the Kim Muir Challenge are Irish-trained and I think this one could be a solid bet. God knows who’s going to win this one though with a very big field and a favourite trading at around 10.0. This one is anybody’s guess right now.
The JCB Triumph Hurdle is a little underwhelming this time, and there is some very formidable French jumpers leading in the price markets and there are so many bloody entries I’m waiting for a bit before the off to make any firm selections here. This one likely won’t go Irish.
A handful of solid Irish contenders are set for the County Hurdle with Get Me Out of Here alongside Eradicate and Puyol as strong contenders. This is another very open race and could go in any direction.
Highly-rated Irish contender Tell Massini headlines the Albert Bartlett Hurdle here with Shinrock Paddy and Enterprise Park emerging as solid outside bets for the Irish punters.
If you’re looking to back an Irish contender for the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup, you’ll more or less be betting on Denman or Cooldine to beat Kauto Star as they are the 2nd and 3rd favourites, respectively. Imperial Commander is another solid Irish contender who almost got the best of Kauto earlier this season at Haydock. Tricky Trickster could be your surprise Irish contender here, but I think it’s difficult to bet against Kauto Star on this one.