It has been difficult to anticipate this year’s Cheltenham Festival in the normal way given the uncertainty over whether it would actually take place, but now we are here, with four days of the highest drama waiting to unfold, the excitement seems fiercer than ever. Even the weather seems to have got the message – it’s not exactly balmy, but what rain there is between now and Friday is expected to be minimal and occasional, a contrast to last year when the meeting opened in driving rain and low single-figure temperatures.
All the same, the going will be soft all over for this afternoon’s seven races after one of the wettest winters for many years. And it will feel very different too as what was, more years than not, Ruby Day, as Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins worked their way through a series of short-priced favourites in the Supreme, Arkle, Champion Hurdle and Mares’ Hurdle, is now up for grabs.
It is never wise to second-guess the big stories of the day here, but the possibility that Rachael Blackmore will grab the top jockeys’ prize by the scruff of the neck is too tempting to resist.
The 6-1 available about Henry de Bromhead’s stable jockey about a week ago has been clipped to 5-1 in recent days but that could still be a decent bet assuming she gets at least one winner on the board today. Notebook, in the Arkle, and Honeysuckle, in the Mares’ Hurdle, are two of her best rides all week, but Captain Guinness is not without a chance in the opener and she is so consistently excellent when it comes to getting a horse settled and well-positioned that Trainwreck, in the novice handicap chase, should also give her supporters a run for their money.
The bookmakers are, as usual, bending over backwards to get some money into punters’ accounts after the Supreme Novice Hurdle. One firm is even offering seven places each-way on the opener, which is an obvious invitation to spread some money around with no obvious downside – while not forgetting that the idea is that any winnings will be retrieved with interest over the course of the next 27 races.
Chris Cook’s selections for the first day are here, a few of my thoughts about the week are here – we concur on Who Dares Wins in today’s Ultima, so take that as you will – and all the news, views, plunges, triumphs and disasters will be detailed here as Cheltenham 2020 unfurls.