Cheltenham Kicks Off Two Day Meet on Friday

Friday’s action at Cheltenham is the de facto undercard for Saturday’s selection of graded races over timber. All credit to the Cheltenham ground staff for getting the going in good order and ensuring that the snow doesn’t delay another weekend of jumps racing.

The Friday card at Cheltenham kicks off at 12:10 and the day’s feature appears to be a listed race that unfolds at 2:25 featuring top-weight Neptune Collonges. The rest of the day’s contests appear to be Class 2 and 3 with an especially tasty-looking 3m7f cross-country chase where Garde Champetre is expected to get the job done.

12:10

This 2m5f contest for novice chasers gets the day off to a rollicking start despite only six entries here. Paul Nicholls’ Rebel Du Maquis comes into the race as a co-top-weight and the recent form is good with a seasonal debut score over this surface followed up by a win over a field of seven at Taunton when sent off as the odds-on favourite at 10/11. REVE DE SIVOLA was undone by a single mistake in his opener at Cheltenham back in mid-November and he could be set to progress against a field that doesn’t look out of his caliber. Nick Williams will have him firing on all cylinders after a few weeks of prep work and his second-place to Peddlers Cross in the Neptune Novice Hurdle last March looks an even better reference now than it did on the day.

12:40

The 12:40 handicap hurdle goes 2m1f with a solid field of seventeen set to tackle this one. L’Accordioniste will probably take a fair amount of action as he’s undefeated in his brief hurdling career with the Twiston-Davies yard. This is his first kick at the Cheltenham can and he looks able to take the score here but you just wonder whether he’ll be found out here. MONETARY FUND gets the nod as a four year-old with lots to prove. A near miss to Via Galilei at Newbury on his seasonal debut when sent off at 14/1 adds to his claims in this one.

1:15

FONT looks an interesting gamble in this seventeen-strong 2m5f contest and he was seriously undone by a big error in his last race- a saddle slipping on the run-in allowed Rodrigo Gonzalez to take the spoils that day at Nangor-on-Dee. He still hung on to finish second and really should get things back to winning ways against a rather up-and-down field. Regal Approach looks a possible spoiler while Fine Parchment was a beaten favourite last time out.

1:50

This Class 2 handicap hurdle is another tight field of seventeen entrants and the play appears to be DON’T PUSH IT who gets his second-choice pilot in amateur rider A J Barry. He was pulled up in the Pertemps at this year’s festival but came back to win the Grand National at Aintree just a few weeks later. Don’t Push It was a 10/1 winner in the race that stops the nation and you can expect him to perform well as he has scored off the lay-off before.

2:25

NEPTUNE COLLONGES is head and shoulders above this field on paper and should go off at a decent price here as well. There are a few very plausible winners here, not the least is Midnight Chase, but you reckon Neptune’s giving up that much weight for a reason- and the reason is his undisputed quality. He was lucky just to be brought down on his seasonal opener and he’ll likely run away with this one if he enjoys an error-free race.

3:00

Sizing Australia looked to be set for a really big season before being undone by Lacdoudal in his last race. The play in this 3m7f cross-country clash looks to be GARDE CHAMPETRE who has taken a while to find his footing and just missed out to Lacdoudal in the aforementioned race. He has a great record at Cheltenham with nearly half a dozen wins here and he’s coming into the race at the right time.

3:35

The closing race of the day looks to be heading in the direction of the talented AL FEROF looks set to dominate this field if he runs anywhere close to his potential. He was second to high-profile novice Cue Card back in the Champion Bumper and the Nicholls’ yard only trots out contenders for a seasonal debut when they’re good and ready so you reckon he won’t need the race to find his footing.