CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL DAY 2

2:50 Coral Cup

MCFABULOUS 16/1 generally – 0.75 POINTS E/W (8 places Sky Bet, 7 places Bet 365, 6 places elsewhere) 

SAINT FELICIAN 6/1 generally – 1 POINT E/W (8 places Sky Bet, 7 places Bet 365, 6 places elsewhere) 

First of all we will start with the write up sent out for McFabulous last week. At the time no rain was forecast whatsoever and although I still think the ground will be ok for him, some rain is forecast on Wednesday. 

Surprisingly Guard Your Dreams was scrapped from the Coral Cup today. Not sure if he has a problem or not but surely that can be the only reason. Anyway it was NRNB so we got our money back and I am happy to invest it in the Paul Nicholls trained MCFABULOUS. He has so much in his favour here and I think he is fairly treated on his handicap mark of 150, especially on decent ground which he will encounter here, judging by the weather forecast. He is a very talented horse and you can put a line through his form last time out at Cheltenham, as he simply does not stay 3 miles. That was his 2nd start over 3 miles in the Cleeve Hurdle and it is his 2nd time he emptied. Going back to his penultimate start, again at Cheltenham, he was an excellent 2nd in the Relkeel Hurdle to Stormy Ireland and what I was impressed with was how he got up the hill. He flew home and it was on the ground that he would have hated. Now back to quickish ground he is going to absolutely love it as MCFABULOUS is a loving moving horse who can bounce off the surface. We saw a glimpse of how good he can be when winning the Persian War Novice Hurdle on good ground last season and then he was upped in trip for the Long Distance Hurdle, seemingly travelling better than Thyme Hill and Paisley Park but just didn’t see out the trip. On that evidence you could argue that, if you give him the right ground and slightly down in trip, on his day he was not far off a Grade 1 horse. He ran a decent race in last years Aintree Hurdle and was sent off 9/2 for that so once again, on that evidence, the 14/1 looks too big here, in a seriously condensed handicap hurdle.

Ever since his run in the Persian War on good ground, he has been faced with slow ground, apart from last time out where the trip was all wrong so for me it is not down to the horses ability but down to conditions. In the meantime MCFABULOUS has come down the handicap from a mark of 158 to 150. Harry Cobden takes the ride and I am hoping he has he prominent from the off, maybe in about 4th or 5th getting some cover. We know he probably stays that little bit further, just not quite 3 miles at Grade 1 company so I think it is important they have him close enough. He should still be travelling well approaching 2 hurdles and at that point coming to the home turn, Harry Cobden needs to kick him on to the last hurdle and he should stay on up the hill. The good thing about this race is it should be run at a decent pace and with MCFABULOUS being a smooth traveller, it is once again only going to help his cause. With 5 places on offer this is a no brainer and I am quietly confident he is involved as I think he could be 5lb – 10lb well in, in optimum conditions. E/W.

SAINT FELICIAN may be 6/1 favourite and maybe I was hoping for a slightly better price but truth be told I think he is a Grade 1 horse running against handicappers. He should really have been running in the Ballymore or the Supreme but they can’t because he was a winner in France on debut, but they are happy to run him in a County Hurdle off a mark of 149. Gordon Elliott clearly knows he has a a serious tool on his hands, hence running him in the handicap. Ok maybe he couldn’t beat the likes of Constitution Hill and Sir Gerhard but even so, this race for SAINT FELICIAN could turn out to be the best placing of any trainer at the festival. He was an easy winner on debut for the yard and then followed this up with an excellent 2nd to Darasso out of Novice company. He has had just 3 starts over hurdles and we have not seen anywhere near his best yet. I think this really could be a Grade 1 horse running in handicaps and if everyone was latching on to Gaelic Warrior today as a handicap certainty( which didn’t come off), this is the next best thing, yet we get 3 times the price. E/W.