Which Ante-Post Favourites Could Be Worth Laying at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival?
March 11, 2021 by Jonathan
Filed under Recent Articles
This photo is by an unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA
This won’t be a shock to seasoned gamblers, but not all favourites oblige at the Cheltenham Festival. Sometimes, the market leaders are false and worth taking on.
Bookmakers don’t have it right all the time, so it is worth considering the lay on fancied runners. Here are the cases against four potential false favourites winning at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival
Appreciate It
Until Ferny Hollow picked up a season-ending injury, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle probably wasn’t on the radar of 2020 Champion Bumper second. Since Douvan delivered for the same stable in 2015, trainer Willie Mullins has had four beaten favourites or joint market leaders in the Cheltenham Festival opener.
In fact, no horse at the top of the betting has won the Supreme over the last five years. Appreciate It got outpaced at the business end of last year’s Champion Bumper. His wins in an Irish point and extended National Hunt Flat race at Leopardstown were both over further than two miles, so he could be vulnerable to a horse with a turn of foot.
Epatante
Despite the fact that trainer Nicky Henderson and owner JP McManus are the most successful in Champion Hurdle history, Epatante could be worth taking on. She comes into a defence of her Cheltenham crown off the back of a defeat to Silver Streak in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.
Henderson highlighted a back problem as the reason for that loss. While you can always forgive a horse one bad run, Epatante could be up against fellow mare Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle this year. That one is unbeaten and may give her plenty to think about.
Easysland
French Cross Country star Easysland blew Cheltenham veteran Tiger Roll away at last year’s Festival. However, he has had a less than ideal prep for a repeat bid after flopping in a handicap at the track in the autumn and missing the Grand Cross De Pau he won last season.
Despite being among tips and predictions for the Cheltenham Festival day 2, Easysland did not jump with any fluency at all on the Cross Country course in November. That is cause for concern, and may be sufficient reason to look elsewhere in the market for this unique discipline.
Min
Min wins the Ryanair! pic.twitter.com/68TtWHYV2V
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) March 12, 2020
Yet another 2020 Cheltenham Festival winner in Min heads the market for a successful defence of his Ryanair Chase crown. Now a veteran aged 10, it has been a decade since a horse that old was successful in this contest.
Mullins trained Min to a deserved Ryanair success 12 months ago, but this year’s renewal could end up being even stronger. There is such potential depth to the race, including within his own stable, that he is far from a solid favourite.
There is also the fact that Un De Sceaux, Balko Des Flos and Frodon have all tried and failed in recent years to win the Ryanair back-to-back. Four of the last six victors have been seven-year-olds, so that trend favours Min’s stablemate Allaho.
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