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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Melissa Jones

JP McManus chasing Cheltenham Festival Trials Day double win with hot favourites

JP McManus is chasing a Cheltenham Festival Trials Day double with two hot favourites on the card.

Champ and Chantry House bid to advertise their claims for the big March meeting at the track on Saturday.

Ante-post odds for the Nicky Henderson-trained pair could shorten considerably if they perform to market expectations.

Champ is a short-priced favourite for the Welsh Marches Stallions At Chapel Stud Cleeve Hurdle, which has attracted seven entries.

Chantry House also heads the market for his intended race, the Paddy Power Cotswold Chase, a trial for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The eight-year-old is 16-1 at this stage for the Festival's feature race, newly sponsored by jewellery firm Boodles.

“The plan is for him to go there (Cheltenham this weekend)," said Frank Berry, racing manager for McManus.

"He was very disappointing on the day in the King George. We couldn’t find the reason for it, but Nicky seems to be very happy in the meantime and hopefully he’ll have a nice run on Saturday.

“You’d like to think the Gold Cup would be the target, but we have to get Saturday out of the way first and see how he gets on.”

Chantry House could gallop into contention for the Gold Cup (PA)

Berry added that Champ's target, where he is due to face previous winner and former Stayers' Hurdle hero Paisley Park, is an "an ideal prep race."

Champ also holds an entry in the Gold Cup at the big meeting.

Jockey Jonjo O'Neill junior, who celebrated his first Grade 1 victory on the horse named after Sir AP McCoy last time out, hopes his mount can deliver.

“A big thank you goes out to Mr McManus and his family for letting me ride Champ," he said in the build-up.

"Winning the Grade 1 for him made it all the more special as he has been a very good family friend since long before I was born.

“I used to look up to AP riding when I was younger and to ride a Grade 1 on the horse named after him made it special as well. It would be nice if we could now win another race like this (the Cleeve Hurdle) together.”

Champ is 1-2 with Grovesnor Sport, ahead of Paisley Park at 11-4.

Chantry House is the 10-11 favourite with the same firm for the Cotswold Chase, with Aye Right next in the betting at 5-2 and novice Ahoy Senor at 7-2.

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