The Guide to Cheltenham: Day Three

Welcome to day three of the four-day guide to the 2011 Cheltenham Festival. This guide was written to give you the basic information for all four days of the festival, and more in-depth information on the days’ major races.

Day three at Cheltenham brings three Grade 1 races, including the Kim Muir Challenge Cup, where amateur riders take to the track for the only flat race of the four-day festival. Be sure to pay close attention to the fourth race of the day, the Ladbrokes World Hurdle. This prestigious 3m race is one of the most watched and bet on races of the festival, surely not to be missed.

You can find links to days one, two and four at the bottom of the article. 

Day Three Schedule

Major Races

Unlike day’s one and two with seven races a piece, day three of the Cheltenham Festival sees six races, half of those worthy of a closer look. These three races include: Jewson Novices’ Chase, The Ryanair Chase and Ladbrokes World Hurdle.

Jewson Novices’ Chase

This is an interesting Grade 2 contest that tends to attract the middle distance novices on the chase circuit. Contenders go 2m4f and must deal with seventeen fences to be jumped. This is the first time that the race hasn’t been run as a handicap.

• Look for contenders who boast a better jumping ability than they do genuine pace.
• The ante post market for this race can be particularly wild as horses here are generally co-entered in several other races.
• Past winners and patterns go out the window now that the race isn’t being run as a handicap chase.
• You may want to opt for selections that have gone longer than 2m4f and been relatively successful at it.
• Contenders as young as five can be entered in this one but older geldings should be preferred.

The Ryanair Chase

One of the most recent additions to the Cheltenham Festival, the Ryanair Chase is the latest incarnation of a race that was called the Cathcart Challenge Cup that went a similar distance over seventeen fences but was restricted to chasers in their first or second seasons. The race goes 2m5f and was upgraded to Grade 1 status in 2008.

• Ruby Walsh is the only jockey to win the race twice.
• Imperial Commander used the race as a stepping stone to Gold Cup glory, conquering this race in 2009 and then taking the festival showpiece in the following year.
• Two of the last three winners had a run over Cheltenham during their campaign.
• All recent winners had spent at least two years on the chase circuit before scoring in this one.

Ladbrokes World Hurdle

The Ladbrokes World Hurdle is the premier race on day three of the festival and it is the ultimate destination for longer-distance hurdlers. The race is run over a 3m distance and features a mere twelve hurdles to be navigated. The present iteration of the race has been run since 1972 when it replaced the Spa Hurdle. Since this is a top race in a very specific division, it is not uncommon for the same contender to win the race a number of times.

• Six year-olds are in the mix on this one, so don’t rule out anybody based on age.
• Two of the last three winners entered the race on the back of an undefeated season.
• Any contender scoring an official rating of over 170 has generally done enough to win the race and most of them had flashed a 170 at least once before.
• Only a single has won the race three times.
• The past two winners have both run in the Tingle Creek early in the season.

The Guide to Cheltenham by day:

The Guide to Cheltenham: Day 1
The Guide to Cheltenham: Day 2
The Guide to Cheltenham: Day 3
The Guide to Cheltenham: Day 4