The 2012 Cheltenham Festival countdown is well and truly on and with every weekend that passes, the ante post markets and odds change for the world famous meeting.(credit:
Will Palmer)
The 2012 Cheltenham Festival countdown is well and truly on and with every weekend that passes, the ante post markets and odds change for the world famous meeting.
As the National Hunt season continues to capture the imagination of racing fanatics, every big race seems to throw up a new Cheltenham Festival clue and the markets for the meeting are really beginning to take shape.
The Cheltenham Festival is the jewel in the British racing crown and it isn’t hard to see why the event is considered one of sport’s most exhilarating spectacles. With it believed that more than £500 million will be gambled throughout the week, most of racing’s shrewdest punters use the four days to pulverise the bookmakers and land some of their biggest gambles of the year.
The 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup will be one of the most heavily gambled on races of the year and Kauto Star and Long Run will clash for the third time of the season. After Kauto Star stunned the racing world with victories in the Betfair Chase at Ascot and then the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day, Nicky Henderson and Long Run will be hoping that they can reverse the form and defend their crown in jump racing’s grandest spectacle.
Meanwhile, the Champion Hurdle at the Festival is beginning to look a more open contest and fears over the wellbeing of Hurricane Fly will be ringing loudly in the ears of his supporters. He has not been seen yet this season and there is already a wave of support gathering momentum behind Nicky Henderson’s challenger Grandouet after his sensational victory in the International Hurdle at HQ.
Willie Mullins will be looking to get Hurricane Fly back on track and if he returns to Prestbury Park in the same form he did in 2011, he is sure to take some stopping. The Irish Champion Hurdle looks to be on his radar and after a number of upbeat bulletins in recent weeks it is a race that should be at the mercy of the French import.
Equally, World Hurdle hero Big Buck’s continues to dominate the staying hurdle division and he looks to be at his imperious best so far this season, as does Queen Mother Champion Chase hero Sizing Europe who jumped his rivals into submission in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown last time out.
Big Buck’s and Sizing Europe will be out to keep their Cheltenham Festival crowns in 2012, but as with so many of the races, there is sure to be plenty of market movers between now and next year’s meeting.