Review of the day

There was significant, unexpected rain at Cheltenham today – and it led to the ground riding much softer than anticipated…

I don’t think it helped the chance of either of todays 2 tips (the third one was pulled out, on account of it !) – though in fairness, both still ran solid races…

Benbens finished fourth in the handicap chase – just failing to peg back Three Faces West, for third.

He’s a horse whose best form is on better ground – so you have to think that without the rain, he may well have been placed…

Le Prezien handled the ground fine – but he’s not the most fluent jumper of a fence - and he probably only just gets 2m4f.

Jumping out of the softer ground made things tougher for him – and he just hadn’t got the reserves to close on the run in, having made a big effort rounding the home turn.

I suspect he was probably the best horse in the race – but unfortunately, on the day, that wasn’t enough…

I have to admit that the winner, Splash of Ginge, was just about the first horse I dismissed from calculations when assessing the race !

I’ve followed him quite closely over the past couple of seasons – and simply wouldn’t have believed he was up to winning today.

The rain would have helped his chances – but I still found his victory quite staggering.

If you took him out the race, the result made perfect sense – but him coming home in front, was baffling…

It was nice to see Apples Shakira canter clear of former Triumph hurdle favourite, Gumball, in the opener…

I had a feeling that she might be something special – and she could quite literally be unbackable come March, if things go to plan…

Obviously, that’s a long time off – but having 16/1 (or even 20/1 !) about a horse whose now 4/1, is a nice position to be in…

There was a bit of a shock in the novice chase – if you can get a shock in a 3 horse race !

In truth, that’s the issue with them – as almost anything can happen.

In this particular one: Ballyoptic set out to make all (as I suspected he would) – but the jumping of West Approach was poor and he was soon struggling.

Black Corton on the other hand, jumped with aplomb – and simply allowed Ballyoptic to tow him into the race before pouncing round the home turn…

As a piece of form I don’t think it counts for much – though I’ve now downgraded my opinion of West Approach…

The rain really helped Anteros – and he ran a big race in the handicap hurdle, briefly looking as if he might repeat last years victor.

However, he was up against a handicap good thing - and when James Bowen went for Thomas Campbell, he had plenty in reserve…

There was talk afterward of the Stayers hurdle for the winner - but he effectively won off mark of 141 today – so will need to improve by another stone, if he is to be competitive at that level.

Neither Quarenta nor The Mighty Don ever featured in the novice handicap hurdle.

I honestly felt as if the former was ridden with a view to getting few pounds of his mark – whilst the latter ran on late, but from too far back.

There will be other days for them both…

Whilst in the bumper, with Lady Marwah a non runner, it was left to the 2 horses who beat her at Aintree, to again fight out the finish.

Lady Marwah was beaten 8 lengths by them last time – and it was 5 lengths from the winner back to the third today.

I cant say that Lady Marwah would have placed, if she had run – but I’d latched on to the right form line – and I reckon she would have gone a lot closer than the market suggested…

Finally, over at Punchestown, Laid Back Luke was surprisingly settled in the rear, in the handicap chase, leaving Velocity Boy to attempt to make all.

And he ran a really big race, only weakening after jumping the second last.

That left Sumos Novios to fight out the finish Coeur Joyeux – but unfortunately, it was the latter who came out on top, by a head…

TVB.