Day Three at Cheltenham Preview and Stan James Bonus Code
- By A.J. Ryder on March 14, 2012 20:10 GMT
After an extremely dramatic and, at times, extremely controversial second day at Cheltenham, we're only halfway through with a full day's action set to unfold tomorrow at the de facto world championships of steeplechasing.
CLICK HERE FOR YOUR BONUS AT STAN JAMES WITH PROMO CODE BC8855UK
It looked to be another great day for the bookies as both Grands Crus and Sizing Europe were beaten – with the Champion Chase proving to be especially flabbergasting to many as Wishfull Thinking crashing through the barrier to take out a photographer and then prompting the final fence to be avoided on the run-in. With poor course management proving to be the decisive factor – the jockeys were only able to take up at the last moment to avoid the hurdle.
With Sizing Europe seemingly bewildered by the last minute move, Finian's Rainbow was able to get the jump on him and find an extra gear heading up the hill. Internet message boards were rife with exclamation marks and four-letter words as one of the festival bankers was, seemingly, not given a fair shake. Conditioner Henry De Bromhead was pure class during a post race interview and emphasized that he was not planning to dwell on the incident.
The big question heading into day three is what will happen to the World Hurdle with Big Buck's drifting up slightly to 8/15 with many bookmakers after being as low as 4/9 with some. Add in favourites getting beaten all over the place with the in-form Nicky Henderson/Barry Geraghty tandem saddling upstart contender Oscar Whisky and you've got a very nervous group of ante post punters who heaped on Big Buck's.
Paul Nicholls yard has been uncharacteristically quiet this year and, if we saw a loss by the nine-year-old son of Cadoudal, it would likely prompt money to flood in on Long Run and the other contenders for the Gold Cup on Friday. Big Buck's losing would certainly stamp this festival as a bookie's dream result.
The Grade 1 Ryanair Chase also looks interesting and it will be especially competitive with a number of horses taking significant amounts of money. Captain Chris, Albertas Run, Somersby, Medermit and a number of other popular contenders will all be lining up in this one and it could prove a good shout for some serious chasing excitement.
Three races boast a total of 24 different runners and punters seem certain that several big each-way shouts could deliver on day three at Cheltenham.
