CHELTENHAM 2026
- Thread starter rbtblb82
- Start date
I did remember one after I posted
Chesham , Hadrians Approach won what I call the Whitbread, probably more than 10 years ago.
stedz
Filly
Anyone have a view on the gold cup? Personally i have backed Haiti couleurs at 16/1. Reasons/ The way it won the welsh national under big weight ,the only other horse that did similar was Native River who carried a pound less ,then went on to win the GC ,the following year. yes Native River was a year younger but Haiti is lightly raced. Throw in other top performances ,course form ,jockey and the trainers excellent record at the festival ,which is exceptional for a small yard trainer ,I thought it the value bet. If it runs badly on Saturday i might look a fool but hey that is Anti post betting on horses.
stedz
Filly
I kind of wish it was not running Saturday , at least not on heavy ground. I was watching the Irish race yesterday , it looked a hard race on heavy ground ,maybe it will have an impact on those horses maybe not .But I could see Bowen going off at a strong pace and making it a real stamina test of a Gold cup.
Carvills Hill won the Welsh National by about 100 lengths with top weight, but bombed in the Gold Cup.
Rebecca Curtis one of the very few British trainers along with Lucinda Russell who I would look at all her runners at a Cheltenham festival because she has been consistently excellent there for many years and a quality target trainer.
Maybe a class deficit concern, when Carvills Hill won the WN was rated well over 170 and Native River 168, Haiti Couleurs rated 159 post Chepstow, maybe the Welsh National wasn’t up to the Native River standard ?
It very often pays to look for lightly raced types not long out of Novice season for the Gold Cup , Haiti Couleurs ticks those boxes.
I was going to back Affordale Fury in the Gold Cup, but after that run in the Irish Gold Cup I don't fancy him anymore.
Galopin still wasn't too far away, would love him to emulate Kauto Star and regain his title, but doubt it.
Nothing standing out atm, probably Fact To File again now, but none of these horses are top quality I think, none are consistent, Gaelic Warrior is a decent horse who can run well, but also has awful runs at times, same with Fact To File, Inurthewayurthinkin and now it appears, Affordale Fury.
I might join you on Haiti Couleurs, currently 10/1 (on Coral).
Galopin still wasn't too far away, would love him to emulate Kauto Star and regain his title, but doubt it.
Nothing standing out atm, probably Fact To File again now, but none of these horses are top quality I think, none are consistent, Gaelic Warrior is a decent horse who can run well, but also has awful runs at times, same with Fact To File, Inurthewayurthinkin and now it appears, Affordale Fury.
I might join you on Haiti Couleurs, currently 10/1 (on Coral).
stedz
Filly
I know the Welsh National is not a key gold cup pointer race, but then the winners of those will be at the top of the market and ratings anyway and not worth an ante post bet. I remember Tony Mullins at a preview night last year and he made a statement saying in his opinion Fact to File was a better Gold cup Horse than Galopin des champs then and in his opinion would win it. Fact To File was vastly inferior on ratings at the time. By all means educate me if you think I am wrong, just keep it friendly. But if we take ratings too seriously we would never have an Ante post bet, would we?
I’m not in the business of educating anyone , just joining in the discussion about the horse you mentioned, giving possible positives and negatives, I can’t see anything that can be interpreted as unfriendly in my posts. I will stick to Hong Kong racing so as to not upset anyone.
stedz
Filly
I am genuinely very sorry if I've offended you in anyway with the way I worded my comment, as that was not my intention. I used the term educating in a sincere way, as I'm no expert by any means and welcome an open discussion. I think my words may have been misinterpreted. What you said was spot on actually and very constructive. Once again please accept my sincerest apology.
I watched the latest episode of Upping The Ante last night, it just shows how Antepost is often not worth it, and I'm glad I didn't put any on this year, they often fall apart, half of both their squads are now injured or not running in the race they selected.
You do get better odds Antepost, I suppose if you know it's definitely running in the race and isn't running again so shouldn't get injured it might be worth it, but since you can lose bets I think it's better to wait for Non Runner No Bet now, which most sites are now offering.
You do get better odds Antepost, I suppose if you know it's definitely running in the race and isn't running again so shouldn't get injured it might be worth it, but since you can lose bets I think it's better to wait for Non Runner No Bet now, which most sites are now offering.
stedz
Filly
Yes I agree, every year after the festival I say to my wife.... that's it now, no more ante post betting for me, but I just seem to get drawn in. The Festival preview programs don't help.
stedz
Filly
Thank you again for the info in this post ,it is very informative. I have a copy of Martin Pipes book somewhere ,and i am going to dig it out when i get a chance to see what he has to say about carvills Hill.
Carvills hill was one of the great handicap performances in the WN , his jumping style could be lack a bit of flexibility , was taken on in Gold Cup by Golden Freeze and Jenny Pitman was accused of Brinksmanship in regard to using one horse to spoils the chance of the favourite to help her other horse Toby Tobias, Carvills Hill couldn’t adapt to the pressure applied.
Last edited:
stedz
Filly
He certainly looked a very tired Horse there. Without checking, maybe the result of a hard season. I know the Irish did not have the strength then as now, but I noticed he had won two Irish Gold Cups. A key Gold Cup pointer race and today incredibly strong form. I don't think he had any Cheltenham form to speak of. I can't double check now, but I hope course form will be another strong positive in the Curtis horses favour. Thanks for posting the videos.
As well as not playing any Antepost this year, I'm also not going to play over more than one day this year, I've just done that again at the DRF, it hasn't worked the last few years at either Cheltenham, Ascot or DRF, so I'm just going to play one day at a time. If JP McManus or Willie Mullins hits several over a few days so be it, it's too expensive to put so many horses in over a few days and then you get non-runners etc., it's just not worth it, I'm going to focus on one day at a time, put all my money one the 1st day and see what I've got left for Day 2, and just hope that I get lucky and hit 5/6 winners one of the days.
stedz
Filly
I did that when I visited the Punchestown festival years ago. I said to my wife who was my girlfriend then, if we have a good first day we will attend the second and if we have a good second day we will attend the third, and so on. Suffice to say we only went the one day! We were in Dublin for a week and its not the best place to be if you have to keep an eye on your pennies Lol.