Aykays Thursday Cheltenham Selections

[Aykay1]

Triumph Hurdle Trouble at bay looks a worthy favourite. Meeting ALL of the past trends. The stable is in good form also. Im also going to take a chance with Raikonnen. His trainer W Mullins has 4 top 6 finishes in this race with only 5 runners. Stayers Hurdle Baracouda looks a certainty. Put simply, if he stands up, he wins. Gold Cup As above, if Best Mate completes the race i cant see him losing. Best market to look at here is the betting w/out Best Mate. Im going for Irelands best hope Beef or Salmon. I cant see him having enough to win the race but he is reportedly at his best and has as good a chance as any to chase Best Mate home. After falling last year as a novice, he will be more experienced and better equipped this time around. On the subject of novices - they have a shocking record in this race which leads me to dismiss Therealbandit. Foxhunters Knowing next to nothing about the form here, i will only be having a very speculative bet in this race. Trainer Richard Barber is considered to be the Foxhunters specialist - 4 winners from 9 entries says it all and he seemingly only runs his that have a decent chance. For example he declared none to run last year. Always on the line is presumably 66/1 for a reason but with his trainers good record in the race and form figures of 11112, ill have a small each way for interest. Grand Annual As the stats suggest, ignore anything aged over 9 years old and also anything carrying over 11 stone. My 3 against the field are Simply Gifted & Ground Ball, both of whom have recent trends in their favour and are in form. Cathcart Since this race was opened to 5 year olds in 1998, 2 have tried and 2 have succeeded! Both have been trained by Martin Pipe. Don Fernando is therefore of interest and is a working mans price at 13/2. There have been 7 winning novices in the last 10 runnings which backs him up further. County Hurdle Many of the field are racing from out of the handicap today which is off putting. Horses of this type have a poor record in this race and can be discounted. My 3 against the field are Albuhera Grave Doubts and Le Passing (The latter 2 are only 1 lb out of the handicap which i am willing to let go). Grave Doubts record over 2m when the ground is Good or better reads:1111F13(5-7) and he is a C&D winner. 200 - Trouble At Bay 6/1 bet365 200 - Raikkonen 50/1 ladbrokes 315 - Beef or Salmon (w/out best mate) 6/1 sp. odds 400 - always on the line 66/1 willhill 435 - Simply Gifted 11/1 sp. odds 435 - ground ball - 14/1 willhill 510 - Don Fernando - 13/2 ladbrokes 545 - Grave Doubts - 20/1 sporting odds 545 - Albuhera - 33/1 sporting odds 545 - Le Passing - 12/1 - ladbrokes

[Aykay1]

Aykays Thursday Cheltenham Selections Beef or Salmon finished 4th which gives an each way return on the betting without best mate market. Ground Ball was 2nd @ 10/1 Otherwise a disappointing day o round off a very disappointing Cheltenham from a personal point of view. :(