CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL DAY TWO FULL PREVIEW AND TIPS PART ONE

We're just a few hours away from the kick off the the first race from day two at the 2010 Cheltenham Festival and the National Hunt chase is always a cracking endeavor. As usual, the field is completely wide open, but punters are reportedly moving towards the talented co-favourite Mobaasher over previous main fancy Any Currency. 

There looks to be about five contenders a few steps ahead of the competition and they include Becauseicouldntsee, Mobaasher, Any Currency, Abbeybraney and Massasoit- they all trade around 7/1 or 8/1 depending on who you are betting with. I can see why punters are piling onto Mobaasher as he has a solid record running against higher-end competition than many others involved here. I think he is a very strong contender for the place option at least. I've got my eyes on Poker De Sivola as the spoiler here and he's trading at 16/1. 
I'm backing Punchestowns in the 2010 RSA Chase and you can read my full preview of the race if you're looking for more details. I think he's simply got plenty of gas left in the tank after a fairly short season and he's shown acumen over the Cheltenham surface. If he gets the right race he'll be hard to beat and he is drifting up towards 3/1. 
The Champion Chase is looking like its Master Minded's to win, that's for sure, and I think that BIg Zeb and Forpadydeplasterer are probably the best contenders here to take the spoils should the favourite not be able to get the job done. It's a small field so we should see plenty of thrills and chills. I think there might be a fast pace to this one and Master Minded should get what he needs here. Forpady's 10/1 price is a quality price and he could pull off a Saint Paddy's Day coup for a lot of Irish punters. 
The Coral Cup is a wide open affair and I'll be backing Jonjo O'Neills lower key charge Shadow Dancer who is 11221 lifetime over hurdles. This is one of those races with an 8/1 favourite and I think this one is anybodys game. I liek Shadow Dancers 14/1 and O'Neill usually has his hurdlers in cracking form. 
Stay tuned to Betting Choice for the 2nd part of our day 2 preview!