Cheltenham Festival Timefigure Preview: Day two

If the first day at Cheltenham threw up something different from previous years on account of a changed running order and the re-siting of the final hurdle further back from the winning post than usual, the second day does too with the combined number of runners (38) in the opening two races, the Turners Novices’ Hurdle and the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, being the largest number this century. A tough start to the day!

Paul Nicholls has made no secret of the high esteem in which he holds Turners favourite No Drama This End, a horse he has said repeatedly might be the next Denman, but it doesn’t appear to have scared the opposition off; quite the contrary, in fact, with 22 runners easily eclipsing the 17 who took part in 2010 and 2012. Both those renewals went to horses at or near the head of the market as this race invariably tends to do so, and though it’s fair to say No Drama This End hasn’t achieved as much on the clock as several of his rivals, he hasn’t been extended. The two with the best claims on time are I’ll Sort That and Skylight Hustle but I can’t say either of those has ‘wowed’ me this season.

Social media has been awash this week with rumours about Final Demand’s wellbeing, but his owner quashed those rumours in an At The Races interview on Monday and he lines up for the Brown Advisory with good credentials on time. His race-leading effort came in the Champion Novice Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival, but it shouldn’t be overlooked he was only third in the Turners last year and comes here off the back of a defeat over fences at the Dublin Racing Festival where he was behind two horses, Kaid d’Authie and Western Fold, who both take him on again here. Looking at the race in the round, Romeo Coolio has compiled the best overall collection of good performances on the clock and has been running as if he wants more of a test than he has had so far, but he’s unproven at three miles and there’s unlikely to be any hiding place here for suspect stamina.

The feature race of the day, the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase, features the horse who is something of a standout across the week over fences from a timing perspective. That horse is Majborough and the 179 he recorded at the Dublin Racing Festival when taking apart the Dublin Chase is about as high as horses get nowadays; a repeat will surely be good enough here. However, he’s odds on, turned in a shoddy jumping display in the Arkle last year, as he did too on his reappearance in the Hilly Way, and whether cheekpieces will work as well again as they did at Leopardstown given this very different jumping test remains to be seen. Il Etait Temps is next best on time along with L’Eau Du Sud and they are tougher rivals than those he beat in Dublin where Marine Nationale was clearly well below his best.

Neither the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase nor the Champion Bumper are races that timefigures have any great bearing on, leaving two handicaps. Among handicaps at the Festival this century which have been won by a horse who was placed in the first five in a Grade 1 contest the previous year, the BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle, as it is now known, comes second only to the County Hurdle having been won four times by a horse fitting that description compared to seven for the County.

The Yellow Clay is a qualifier this year having split The New Lion and Final Demand in last year’s Turners and a mark of 155 might not be beyond him given promising claimer Michael Kenneally takes off 5lb. That said, there are several with better claims on the clock, none more so than Kateira who comes into this race having had the sort of help from the handicapper that assisted the yard's Langer Dan in this race in 2024.

Interestingly, and probably significantly, Harry Skelton is back on board for the first time since she beat Golden Ace at Wetherby on her reappearance and her only other appearance in a big-field premier handicap like this saw her beat Jango Baie at the Grand National meeting in 2024.

The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual looks tricky to solve with 14 of the 22 runners aged just seven. Other than the regressive Boothill, the best of those on time are Be Aware and Inthepocket. Be Aware, one of the 14, was eighth in the Coral Cup last year but has improved markedly over fences, chasing home Lulamba in the Henry VIII at Sandown, and wouldn’t be the first horse this year to leave a run at Windsor behind. Inthepocket has been slow to come to hand this year but showed much more at the Dublin Racing Festival last time and unless the heavens open will get the fastest ground he’s encountered since winning the Grade 1 Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree in 2023.

Recommended Bet

1pt win Kateira at 8/1 in the 14:40 at Cheltenham