Best Bet Of The Day - Saturday

[Aidymac]

Master Minded - Cheltenham 1:55 Cheltenham winner 2 times who was right back to his best last time out, did not make 1 jumping error and jumped impeccably, made the others look like novices infact. McCoy takes the ride and im surprised EVENS is available about this horse, i was thinking 4/6 would have been a fair price so to me Evens is value. It won this race in 2008 , personally i think Kalahari King is its chief threat but if it reproduces its last run it shall win this easy i reckon. 1 Point win @ EVENS (Paddypower) BOG I would like to dedicate this winner to my friend Torn-Up-Slip. :lol

[Monterosso]

Re: Best Bet Of The Day - Saturday 11:40 Cheltenham - Fiendish Flame - 1pt @ 10/1 (Bet365 - BOG) Front runner who comes here on the back of a couple of good efforts after a 6 month lay off. He's a progressive chaser who has improved for his switch to the larger obstacles. In 8 runs he has won 3, came 2nd twice and 2rd twice. Only failing to come in the top 3 on 1 occasions when 3 consecutive poor jumps cost him the chance of landing the Jewson Novices' Chase at this course during the festival. I also think that trip of 2m 5f really stretched him and he'll be much more at home over this extended 2 mile trip on ground that is ideal. He looks handicapped to the hilt off a mark of 145 but I think there's still more to come and he posted a very impressive result last time out. It was only a 4 runner race at Bangor but he easily beat last years Gold Cup 6th, Calgary Bay, by a whopping 8 lengths when 5lbs 'wrong' at the weights. Although, that opponent was running over a 2m 2f trip that wouldn't be near ideal for him but Fiendish Flame was on soft ground, he's much better on the good ground that he'll get today and I reckon the result is a lot better than the bare dissection of the race would suggest. Fiendish Flame has numerous jumping problems early on in his chasing career, often jumping right on left handed tracks and clattering fences when looking like a 'good thing'. He seems to have cut that out of late and I fancy we could see much more from this energetic 6 year old. He has raced twice at Cheltenham, once when coming 5th of 17 in a NHF race over 2 miles, that was his racetrack debut and he was running very well for a long way. The other was the aforementioned run in the Jewson. He made a few costly mistakes under pressure that day but hit 2.50 in running, looking like the likely winner for a long time. I believe he has improved significantly since then and having had 3 runs since October, he should strip much fitter and possibly show up even more effective than last time out. Calgary Bay is a very good yard stick in my opinion, even if he didn't have the speed for that trip, the way my selection spun away from him in a matter of strides was highly impressive. Trip is ideal and good ground is a must for this fellow, the way he took off on soft ground was impressive and I think he could be even more effective here. He's showing much more consistency with his jumping nowadays too, he was always good jumping but always managed to make the odd silly mistake, which has seemingly been cut out of his game. He'll face a tough battle to get into the lead but even if they go at breakneck speeds from the front, I would fancy him to run a good race. He's one of these tough and game front runners who keep plugging on even when under pressure and this is vital around here in a race of this nature. He also has the in-form and highly talented, Jason Maguire, on his back. He's his regular jockey and knows how to get a good tune out of him. Donald McCain is his trainer, his yard are in mighty good knick of late and despite having a poor record here, I'm willing to take a chance. Fiendish Flame has a mighty tough job here, he'll have to jump well, travel well and keep on well, but he's so progressive that I think he could do all of that and let his stamina kick in on the hill and ensure he'll fly away from the rest of the field. There is many dangers in the race so I'm not going to go through them but the 10/1 looks good value for this fellow, he's a 7/1 shot in my book which is a significantly lower price in a race of this nature. Small/medium stakes and hopefully a nice winner to start off the day.