The 2009 Cheltenham Festival starts here. Why wait till next year to get your bets on when you can start your ante-post portfolio now. The Racing Post has improved immeasurably since Bruce Millington took over the reins as editor and the greater emphasis on tipping has made for a much livelier paper.
In today's edition a quintet of their form experts are picking their best bets for next year's Festival and there are a couple or recommendations which certainly make appeal.
We saw brilliant winners of the Gold Cup and Champion Chase in Denman and Master Minded last week but the Champion Hurdle was hardly vintage and I wouldn't bank on Katchit winning again next season. He's brave but beatable and Captain Cee Bee (16-1 with Totesport) is a viable candidate to take the title from him. He would appreciate faster ground than he got last week when winning the Supreme Novice Hurdle in, as Tom Segal points out in the Post today, a faster time than the Champion Hurdle won by Katchit.
Master Minded (6-4 with Blue Square) to repeat his victory in the Champion Chase is the other long-range Cheltenham wager to catch the eye. He put up the performance of the week, Denman included, at Cheltenham and is sure to be long odds-on if turning up fit and well next March.
As far as today's action is concerned I have put up Colline de Fleurs 2.50pm as the Guardian nap simply on the grounds that she cannot have conditions soft enough and the ground at Taunton will be desperate. While researching selections this morning I found trainer Jonjo O'Neill saying the same thing about Keepatem 4.20pm and his runner is very well handicapped at present.
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