Best Bet Of The Day - Friday 12th November

[wizzkid walter]

1:50 Cheltenham - Cue Card - Back This race is quite simply all about Cue Card. His reputation is humongous given he is still unbeaten in racing, notably including him hacking up here in the Champion Bumper at the festival in March. He followed this recently by making a terrific winning debut over hurdles, when his jumping looked particularly impressive considering it was his first run over hurdles. If that was anything to go by, he has an extremely exciting future over hurdles and I expect him to win here before his year then focuses back towards the 2011 festival 1pt win @ 5/6 Bet365 BOG

[Monterosso]

Re: Best Bet Of The Day - Friday 12th November 1:15 Cheltenham - Knowhere - 1pt @ 9/1 (Bet365 - BOG) Highly talented 12 year old who on his day would be massively well in here, he doesn't have too many good performances nowadays but he still retains enough ability to go close here if coping with a 5 month lay off. He has a great record when fresh and is a previous 2 time Grade 2 winner, including once at this course in similar conditions to that which he faces now. His highest career win came off a mark of 154 and he runs here off 137, his lowest career mark and well below marks that he has run well off before. He's from the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard who are brilliant at getting a horse ready and they won this race last year with Razor Royale, he scored so easily when winning by 23 lengths. Hopefully they're planning to take this again with a horse who clearly goes well around here and has even contested two Cheltenham Gold Cups. There's a fair chance that we'll get a relatively slowly run race and that should help as this fellow has tendencies to throw in the odd poor jump but with less emphasis on him to jump under pressure we may see him in a better light, he also has a very good amateur jockey on board as Derek O'Connor takes the ride, he's a highly competent jockey and he has a fine 16% strike rate over fences. O'Connor has ridden on 16 occasions over the fences of Cheltenham, he's yet to taste victory but has placed on 7 occasions, hopefully he'll get his slice of luck this year and take the amateur contest here on his only ride of the day. Twiston-Davies' yard are in good order and have done well here in recent seasons, they're sure to have Knowhere tuned up and ready to put up a bold bid here after a few months rest, as previously said, his record fresh has been brilliant over the years and he's very well in on these terms with conditions likely to suit. If he could get his jumping right just one more time then it'll be very very tough to see him beaten as that's the only thing that has stopped him from being the force of old and even improving beyond what he once was. He's 12 years old now but that doesn't tamper my enthusiasm, he's very good with some cut in the ground and with the weather as it stands, there is a fair chance it'll be Good-to-Soft or even Soft, either will suit perfectly and increase his chances tenfold. He showed enough last season to suggest there could still be one or two more wins in him yet and I believe this is an ideal chance to do so. It's a tough race by all means but he looks to have a very lively chance for a yard who have won this before, coupled with an interesting jockey booking and ground suiting him, all of this suggests to me that he should be a lot shorter than the current 9/1 on offer and the odds compliers are just basing that on his most recent run in which he lived to to his name and came nowhere. He's a 5/1 shot in my book, bordering on favourite and I'm expecting a big run, small stakes due to the type of race but he stands a lively chance and is by far and away the best horse in the race, I'm just afraid of something progressing past his current abilities but he could still have enough.