Festival Focus - Gold Cup

Gold Run - Long Run can emulate great rival Kauto Star by regaining his Gold Cup crown

Festival showpiece the Cheltenham Gold Cup rounds out the Festival Focus pieces for this year and as always it promises to be a thrilling race.

At one point it looked like this year’s Gold Cup could be one of the most wide open in years, and although there are several leading contenders in with a chance of succeeding Synchronised as champion, the closer it’s got to the race the clearer it’s become that on the form book there are really only a handful of horses that can win.

So rather than be a highly competitive fare as was once expected the Gold Cup actually looks like one of the easier festival puzzles to solve this year.

Bobs Worth is a horse that I really like and if he was more of a price I’d probably be putting him up as the likely winner, but at 10/3 he doesn’t exactly scream value even though he looks for all the world like the most likely winner.

Festival Focus - Albert Bartlett

Gree-t Expectations - Coneygree looks massively overpriced for the Albert Bartlett

The Albert Bartlett is the pre-cursor to the Gold Cup on the final day of the festival, but over the past few years the race has thrown up a few horses that have gone on to mix it in Gold Cup company down the road, not least this year’s ante-post favourite for the Gold Cup Bobs Worth who took the race in 2011.

Last year saw the ill-fated Brindisi Breeze gallop his opponents in to the ground and it is highly likely we could see a similar sort of display this year too.

Like so many festival races many of the perceived leading protagonists in the race could end up elsewhere yet, and more so than many of the other races there looks a very real possibility that the Albert Bartlett could completely fall apart.

Pont Alexandre looks more likely to go for the Neptune (for which he is a short priced favourite) as does Taquin Du Seuil. Champagne Fever would too seem an unlikely contender at this point as in spite of getting his career back on track recently with another Grade 1 win last year’s Champion Bumper winner has seemed better suited to two and a half miles.

I absolutely adore Gevrey Chambertin and although I would love to see him contest this I have my suspicions that he may be aimed at one of the more valuable handicaps during the week, several of which he holds entries in.

If Grands Crus’ full brother were to line-up here I’d give him an outstanding each-way chance, as he has always looked a future superstar but I’m going to proceed on the basis he does go down the handicap route.

My idea of the winner of this race has always been Coneygree and I’ve backed him for the race at considerably shorter than he is now.

Festival Focus - Triumph Hurdle

Triumph-ant - Our Conor looks the pick of this year's Triumph Hurdle contenders

Friday’s curtain-raiser is the Triumph Hurdle a juvenile (four-year-olds only) novice hurdle which has been won in recent years by Detroit City, Zarkandar and last year by John Quinn’s Countrywide Flame.

The race can often be a tricky one to solve given that many of the leading contenders don’t have much racing under their belt and often the winner doesn’t appear in people’s consciousness until only a few weeks prior to the race.

Already ahead of this year’s event the market has undergone many transformations and prior to the weekend just gone I didn’t particularly have a strong fancy for the race.

That all changed following the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown though as Dessie Hughes’s Our Conor put up a fantastic performance to easily smash some smart prospects and catapult himself to the head of the Irish charge for the race.

Grand National 2013 Weights

Grand Performance - Neptune Collonges just got the better of Sunnyhillboy in last year's Grand National

The weights for this year’s Grand National have been revealed today at the annual Grand National weights lunch.

As usual there has been the usual mix of delight, confusion and anger amongst connections and punters alike following the publishing of the race-specific weights each contender for this year’s renewal of the world’s greatest steeplechase will have to carry.

From a personal standpoint I’m delighted with last year’s fourth and my lone ante-post bet for this year’s race thus far Cappa Bleu being allotted 10st7 – 3lbs less than he carried to fourth in last year’s race.

That’s not a ‘nice racing weight’ cliché there, he genuinely looks well handicapped and I’m even more confident now that he can improve on last year’s staying on fourth this time around.

Others that look to have been fairly treated include Welsh National second Teaforthree on 10st13, the fancied Colbert Station on 10st11 and David Bridgwater’s Wyck Hill on just 10st4.

You can view the full list of weights after the jump:-

Festival Focus - World Hurdle

Ultimate Warrior - Bog Warrior can continue his redemption in the World Hurdle

The 2013 Cheltenham Festival and Thursday’s feature the Ladbrokes World Hurdle will both be lesser events for the absence of the legendary Big Buck’s.

However although we won’t get to see the great staying hurdler attempt a remarkable fifth straight win in the race, his absence ensures the contest is more open than it’s been in years and looks a fascinating renewal.

Since Big Buck’s’ defection from the race the market has been in disarray with at one point or another several horses who look nailed on to run elsewhere during the week topping the betting.

Things have got a little more sensible in recent weeks however, even though Quevega still occupies a spot towards the head of the market in spite of it all but having been confirmed she’ll go for another Mares Hurdle rather than go for the World Hurdle.

Just to quickly get several others prominent in the betting that simply won’t run out of the way too, Grands Crus looks unlikely to revert to hurdles at this stage in spite of his recent poor form over fences. Having had a Big Buck’s-esque season over fences though were he to turn up here it could be ominous and if back to his best he’d be a key player, that all looks unlikely to be the case at present though.

Cape Tribulation will now almost certainly go for the Gold Cup following his Argento win while Dynaste will be in a novice chase event, most likely the RSA and Riverside Theatre looks set to defend his Ryanair crown.

Festival Focus - Ryanair Chase

First Choice - First Lieutenant can land his owner's race

Of all the changes the Cheltenham Festival has undergone over the years, many would argue that the addition of the Ryanair Chase has been one of the best and most successful.

The race offers championship class horses that aren’t speedy enough for the Champion Chase but don’t quite stay the grueling Gold Cup trip an intermediate distance to tackle.

The Ryanair’s success has clearly been the spur for the creation of a novice equivalent in the Jewson and has seen most notably Imperial Commander take the race in recent years.

Last year’s race was responsible for arguably the jumps ride of the season as Barry Geraghty steered Riverside Theatre home in front having looked like holding no chance for much of the race.

This year’s renewal, as seems to be a common theme with this year’s festival, is in danger of losing several of the leading protagonists in the betting at this point to other targets and for that reason looks somewhat of a minefield to try and get to the bottom of.