Saturday Betting Preview for Cheltenham Part 4

Look for a very selective ride from Ruby Walsh – you reckon they don't want to take too much out of the horse but you do know that if Sacre makes any form of a mistake then Ruby will have him well-poised to capitalize. He belongs at this level and will look to turn around his Cheltenham fortunes.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE BET WITH BLUE SQUARE!

The Argento Chase

This contest runs at 2:25 and it really looks to be a tricky assignment as there is so much quality set to battle it out over the 3m1f distance. A number of very exciting contenders are in the mix here and the most high-profile one is former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander – who makes his first appearance on the track since being pulled up against Long Run in 2011. He is a bit of an unknown quantity here and is in the unfamiliar position of being named bottom weight. You're not going to get many opportunities to back a Gold Cup winner with a 10 lb advantage so many punters might jump in while the getting is good.

One does get the feeling that connections only have him placed here because they want a good showing to set them up for another tip at the Gold Cup. If he fails to run convincingly then there is every chance that Imperial will likely be retired.

Another big race winner coming into this race is Little Josh, and he got his season off to a great start with his his first score in a while coming on debut. He took a 38K handicap at Aintree and will look to move forward here. You do have to admire the spacing between his races and it looks like Nigel Twiston-Davies has picked his spot well – there is no reason for him to fear anyone in this race.

178-rated Tidal Bay lines up for this one and you can expect him to likely go off as the selection. He;s run 1211 in his last four efforts with three of them coming this season. He took a Grade 1 at Leopardstown in late December and looks to be in cracking form at the moment. He showed some real guts grinding out that victory against First Lieutenant and he should also relish the soft going here at Cheltenham.

His last score at Cheltenham was over hurdles in the Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle back in 2010. He has finished second several times and you can see that as a clue that may see punters key him up top and bottom on the forecast tickets.

Stay tuned for a deeper look at the rest of the card on Friday with an update on withdrawals.