Friday 18th March, 4.50pm, Cheltenham
The Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle is the penultimate race coming from the Cheltenham Festival on Friday. This is a two and a half mile contest with 24 runners and we’ve seen some top quality horses take this race in the past.
There seems to be a bit of a gamble going on for Squouateur as Gordon Elliot’s runner is now as short as 4/1 and does look to have an outstanding chance.
Jack Kennedy is just about as good as it gets in terms of jockey bookings in this kind of race and the horse has won his last two races.
The handicapper has put him up plenty, but you do get the feeling there is plenty more under the bonnet when it comes to this five-year-old.
We fully respect his chances, but he’s very short in a race like this.
Qualando is a Cheltenham Festival winner as he took the Fred Winter last season for Paul Nicholls.
The horse is at 10/1 for this one and had been poor this season, before a second at Taunton which showed plenty of promise.
The return to Cheltenham, some better ground and a good run under his belt will all suit this horse and we know he acts at the track. 10/1 could be great EW value.
Willie Mullins has Children’s List entered here and he is a 12/1 shot. The horse doesn’t look to be too well handicapped coming into this but the trainer has an excellent record in the race.
Some better ground is likely to suit this gelding and the second behind Golan Lodge last time was a good run. Stepping back down in trip would be a positive too.
Flying Angel won the Imperial Cup at Sandown just six days ago and is turned out under a penalty by Nigel Twiston-Davies.
Despite the fact he won well, that would have been a tough race at Sandown and this is completely different as the ground will be much quicker. He doesn’t make much appeal to me at 14/1.
Jetstream Jack, Montdragon and Ibis Du Rheu are all available at 16/1. You can get 18/1 and over about the rest of the field.
Joe's tip(s) for this race: [mepr-show if=”rule: 20415″] Qualando looks to be good value here and Jetstream Jack could also be one to go well as he is in cracking form right now.[/mepr-show] [mepr-active rule=”20415″ ifallowed=”hide”] Joe's tips are only available to Gold members – You can apply for Gold membership here [/mepr-active]
[odds_checker date=”2016-03-18″ time=”16.50″ iframe_only=”no” height=”750″]
