1:20 Turners Novices Hurdle 2m5f
Final Demand might develop into the best of these in time but he is surely vulnerable at 2m5f. He looks like an out-and-out stayer and the times of both his wins on soft have been on the slower side. He will be tested in a way he hasn’t been previously – this will be the fastest ground he has encountered and the race is also run over a furlong shorter than the race he won at Leopardstown. The Challow is historically a graveyard for horses coming to the festival but that hoodoo may well be broken by The New Lion. He looks much quicker than the typical winner of that race, which is traditionally run on far more attritional ground between Boxing Day and New Year. It has become fashionable to question the substance of that form but the reality is that Harry Skelton was toying with the other horses on the run in. I have never seen a jockey look so confident on a novice hurdler, weaving in and out of horses at his will down the straight. He is the one I would be siding with, although he is probably too short on what he has achieved.
An opinion I’d prefer to invest in is that the extent to which Potters Charm ran below par last time out is being overstated and his conqueror SIXMILEBRIDGE is consequently underestimated here. Had the Twiston-Davies team not inflated (rightly or wrongly) the reputation of their horse so much earlier in the season we may have been less concerned with how Potters Charm underperformed and looking at a British hope almost on a par with the New Lion. He threw his race away in the paddock before the Champion Bumper last season but is warming to hurdles and unbeaten in his last three starts.
Bet: Sixmilebridge @ 22/1 0.5pt EW (4 places)
2:00 Brown Advisory Novices Chase 3m½f
BALLYBURN is the best horse in this race and I think backers have until now been able to benefit from a generous price because of misguided assumptions that he might have been a two-miler rather than the stayer which he clearly is. There seemed to be an unreasonable expectation that he would become an Arkle horse as he kept beating up an average bunch of novice hurdlers last season. His bubble has only been burst by Sir Gino (the virtues of whom are well-publicised) over two miles and all the evidence suggests he will improve for further. He is a point winner with a stamina-laden pedigree, by Flemensfirth and a full-brother to some useful horses who did all their winning over the longer trip. His two best performances have come in his only two runs over 2m5f+ and he did his best work at the finish at Leopardstown, battling it out after Croke Park came alongside him at the last. If you disregard the Wayward Lad, he is practically unbeaten aside from a messy maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse and he has festival form, too. I have been keen on him for a while, though the price has gone now.
If you are not sitting on an antepost position then it might be worth putting him in multiples or chancing something further down the field. Better Days Ahead has been attracting support from shrewd circles but he made hard work of winning last time out – his stablemate Stellar Story almost got up at the line despite being given an educative ride and giving weight. Dancing City would be interesting on deeper ground but on this surface I prefer GORGEOUS TOM. His two wins over Monbeg Park (now rated 149) are looking better than they did at the time and he probably would have won the Drinmore had it been half a furlong longer. This is his first try over three miles and you benefit from the knowledge that Henry de Bromhead will have him ready for this.
Bet: Ballyburn @ 7/2* 2pt Win
Bet: Gorgeous Tom @ 12/1 0.5pt Win
2:40 Coral Cup 2m5f
Calling a festival handicap tricky to solve is a truism but the Coral Cup really is just that. I have never done particularly well in it and my plan is to focus on those that have the potential to become graded horses in the future. Be Aware has obvious claims for the yard that pillaged this race twice with Langer Dan, but fear of the Skeltons may be skewing the market and in my book both JP McManus horses have been dangerously underestimated. IMPOSE TOI has a good record fresh and has been kept for this after winning a good handicap at Newbury in November. He has some brilliant bits of form, including close seconds to Luccia and Brentford Hope, and strikes as the type to take another step forward with first-time cheekpieces applied. Nicky Henderson has a tremendous record in this race and this is exactly the sort of horse he has done well with. Joseph O’Brien plundered the Fred Winter again yesterday and COMFORT ZONE also has to be respected from a mark of 137. He has been kept since an eyecatching third behind Al Gasparo at Leopardstown. He was a useful juvenile who seems to have been campaigned cleverly and remains open to improvement at the age of six.
Bet: Impose Toi @ 13/2 0.5pt EW (8 places)
Bet: Comfort Zone @ 13/2 0.5pt EW (8 places)
3:20 Cross Country 3m5½f
The Cross Country has been made into a handicap this year and the perceived wisdom is that shouldering a big weight over the banks is easier than in a normal handicap, which is probably true. However, multiple pundits have been urging us to stick to those at the top of the weights and I slightly disagree. The banks course at Cheltenham is ridiculously sharp and they don’t really get galloping until the very end of the race. In my view, bringing the weights together just increases the chances of the field being clustered turning for home and throwing up a number of possible results. Stumptown has obvious claims for Gavin Cromwell and Galvin has to be respected for Gordon Elliott, who has won six of the last seven of these and seems quietly confident provided good is in the description. The two I am siding with at the prices are 12 and 13-year-olds who both ran blinders in the National earlier this year. LATENIGHTPASS won the Foxhunters in 2019 and has taken well to these obstacles since arriving from the point-to-point scene. He was four lengths behind Stumptown in the warmup for this and arrives here on 8lb better terms, so looks sure to give Gina Andrews a good spin. ROI MAGE isn’t getting any younger but arrives here from a campaign in France. He beat subsequent Cheltenham winner Sweet David in a very similar contest at over there and should run well at a price for the Griffins.
Bet: Latenightpass @ 10/1 0.5pt EW (6 places)
Bet: Roi Mage @ 25/1 0.5pt EW (6 places)
4:00 Champion Chase 2m
He is a horse that people like to knock but JONBON doesn’t get the credit he deserves and I think he is one of the strongest favourites of the week. He has only been beaten thrice in a 20-race career and I don’t buy the theory that he is worse at Cheltenham. He has won there twice and his defeats have been nothing to do with the track – he bumped into two horses at the top of their game (Constitution Hill in the Supreme and El Fabiolo in the Arkle) and finished an admirable second after making a race-ending mistake in a rearranged Clarence House. Like many by Walk in the Park, he has taken some time to mature but now settles much better, which allows him to be ridden more forward. I think that has brought him on bundles and it is also a great asset in a race like this where everything happens at 100 miles per hour. He is comfortably the best horse in this race and I don’t underestimate the importance of his unbeaten partnership with Nico de Boinville, either.
The penny might have dropped for Marine Nationale but he still needs to prove himself at this level and is a terrible price based on what he has achieved over fences. Energumene may improve from the Clarence House but he is an 11-year-old now and surely needs testing ground. Solness deserves to take his place but the yard aren’t exactly confident and he will not get a solo up front like he has done for his two wins this season. FOUND A FIFTY interests me the most away from the favourite. He was second in last year’s Arkle and aside from a blip last time out when Gordon Elliott was convinced he didn’t have him right, he has been very consistent over fences. He is an assured jumper and apparently has been working very well at home. Libberty Hunter will be ridden to run well for Evan Williams and would be of interest if the ground rides on the softer side of good-soft.
Bet: Jonbon @ 10/11 3pt Win
Bet: Found A Fifty @ 12/1 1pt EW
4:40 Grand Annual 2m
The Grand Annual is one of my favourite handicaps of the week and I am quite keen on both my selections. It is an old-fashioned plot race – horses dropped in the weights have a tremendous record and there have been only two winners since 2004 who had won a handicap in the same season. I think that the Skeltons have got away with murder again with UNEXPECTED PARTY, who is now just 6lb higher than his winning mark last year. He was dropped 3lb for his reappearance in the Old Roan at Aintree over the wrong trip and should have won a graduation chase at Carlisle when not doing much alone in front. Since then, he has finished thirteen lengths behind Jonbon in the Shloer and second in a good handicap at Windsor when sent off 22/1. Dan Skelton’s guarded optimism provides further encouragement: “I’m not saying he’ll win but I think he’ll run well”.
Elsewhere, I don’t think we have seen the best of JPR ONE yet and despite carrying top weight, he is my best bet for the day. He is still relatively unexposed and my theory is that there is plenty more to come on good ground. He has shown glimmers of top-class form: he beat Matata easier than the distance suggested at Lingfield last season and his defeat of Djelo (who I fancy for the Ryanair tomorrow) in the Haldon Gold Cup is beginning to look like a 160s-worthy performance. Connections have always maintained that that good ground is key to him and given recent wet winters, it is perfectly feasible that he simply hasn’t had his conditions over the past two seasons. The fact that the Tizzards have pitched him into a handicap suggests they are pleased with his mark and I think he will be very tough to beat.
Bet: JPR One @ 10/1 2pt Win
Bet: Unexpected Party @ 8/1* 1pt Win
5:20 Champion Bumper 2m½f
The Champion Bumper is a race I tend to avoid but I liked the way KALYPSO’CHANCE won at Navan. He is the standout for Gordon Elliott and should be there or thereabouts.
Otis Brankin-Frisby
Cheltenham 2025 Day 2 Selections
* = backed antepost.
1:20 Sixmilebridge 22/1 0.5pt EW (4)
2:00 Ballyburn 7/2* 2pt Win
Gorgeous Tom 11/1 0.5pt Win
2:40 Impose Toi 13/2 0.5pt EW (8)
Comfort Zone 13/2 0.5pt EW (8)
3:20 Latenightpass 10/1 0.5pt EW (6)
Roi Mage 25/1 0.5pt EW (6)
4:00 Jonbon 10/11 3pt Win
Found A Fifty 12/1 1pt EW
4:40 JPR One 10/1 2pt Win NAP
Unexpected Party 13/2 1pt Win
5:20 -
Trixie 1pt total
2:00 Ballyburn 4/6
4:00 Jonbon 10/11
4:40 JPR One 10/1
Festival Multiples
E/W Super Yankee 2.6pt total
Transmission 5/1 (National Hunt Chase)
Unexpected Party 8/1 (Grand Annual)
Pic Roc 14/1 (Jack Richards Novice Handicap Chase)
The Wallpark 14/1 (Stayers Hurdle)
Lulamba 9/4 (Triumph Hurdle)
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