Latest Cheltenham Festival News for Monday, March 14

Obviously the biggest news at the moment heading into Cheltenham week is the withdrawal of leading Champion Hurdle fancy Binocular. This is another great example of why it pays to bet with Ladbrokes as they’ve been offering up non-runner no bet for quite some time now. This development comes on the heels of a recommendation from the BHA to conditioner Nicky Henderson. Apparently Binocular has been unable to shake an allergic reaction from two weeks back and medication used to help him overcome the illness would not have cleared his system by race time. Nice that they did the right thing by withdrawing him.

Menorah and Hurricane Fly are now the 7/2 joint favourites and, with Binocular out, they both look a bit more appealing from an odds perspective. Menorah will likely go off slightly shorter than Hurricane Fly.

In other Champion Hurdle news, Ruby Walsh is confirmed to take the mount on Hurricane Fly in the day one showpiece. Walsh enters this year’s festival having just returned to race-riding about two weeks ago and he’s already got a victory under his belt from Sandown on Saturday. Paul Townend will take the mount on longshot Thousand Stars, who continues to drop and is now trading as low as 20/1.

Peddlers Cross’ stablemate Overturn has had his entry in the Champion Hurdle confirmed but he looks up against it with a 40/1 price currently floated.

From now until the races kick off, Ladbrokes remains non-runner money back.

In Ryanair Chase news, Tranquil Sea has been withdrawn after a scope revealed the need for antibiotic treatment after a gallop on Wednesday. Connections are confident he’ll be ready for Aintree though. He had been as short as 11/2 in the Ryanair.

Clerk of the Course Simon Claisse has also announced that the watering at Cheltenham has finished on the Old Course while the New Course will undergo watering into Monday. He stated we are good to soft, good in places on the old and new courses and good, good to firm in places on the cross-country.