With the Flat Season almost in the rearview mirror, attention turns the National Hunt game and the first of our 2023 Cheltenham Festival ante-post tips is a mega-odds lucky 15.
The start of a new season brings many questions but also many exciting possibilities as punters scramble to figure out who is going where and which Willie Mullins horse will win each race.
And while the hard-nosed professional punters will scoff at people putting on Cheltenham Lucky 15 bets in September, there is something exciting about trying to figure out where all the pieces of the puzzle will fit.
The success of shows such as Upping the Ante and Let’s Talk racing highlights that there is a huge market for Ante Post Punting, even if the success of some has made bookies extremely cautious with prices and very quick to cut their odds. That being said, I hope to have unearthed a few lively outsiders and your bravery with this punt will be rewarded with truly life-changing odds. All that’s left to do is put the feet up and wait for the payout!
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Thedevilscoachman (Stayers Hurdle) 33/1
Noel Meades 6yo has always had a touch of class about him. A look back at his novice hurling record shows impressive weight conceding defeats of Riviere D’Etel and Fire Attack. A novice chasing campaign followed, where he was far from disgraced in a staying-on defeat by superstar Ferny Hollow and a narrow loss to the likable Saint Sam. While all these races were contested over minimum trips, the fact that he could finish so close while attempting to bring several of the fences home with him was indicative of a serious engine.
This was borne out in the Grade 2 Boyne Hurdle where a return to smaller obstacles and a step up in trip saw him impressively outstay Commander of Fleet and Ashdale Bob, who would go on to finish 1st and 3rd in the Coral Cup at the festival.
He was entered in the Stayers Champion Hurdle at the Punchestown festival, and while he was a NR (scoped wrong), this entry indicated that Meade has landed on the 3m hurdle division as his optimum conditions. With a campaign focusing on this race, he will ruffle a few feathers and is a standout 33/1 in the Cheltenham ante-post odds market.
Dysart Dynamo (Arkle) 20/1
When you look through Dysart Dynamo’s form pre-Cheltenham last year, while there are plenty of 1’s, the horses in behind don’t necessarily point to a future Grade 1 champion. However, sometimes a horse just blows you away with the style in which they do it and last year for me, that was Dysart Dynamo.
That being said, in my opinion, he was well beaten when coming down 3 out in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. He certainly wouldn’t have beaten the winner and I wonder whether he would even have been second home. But that second was Jonbon who is now favourite for both the Arkle and the Turners Novices’ Chase. DD’s run at Punchestown was too bad to be true and if the break has freshened him up, he could be a front running 2 mile Chaser in the mould of an Un De Sceaux who will take off, attack every fence and not see another rival.
Gerri Colombe (National Hunt Chase) 20/1
Gerri Colombe has always looked like a staying Chaser. In an age of flashy point-to-point winners, his victory was ground out and this desire to stick his head out has been evident in the majority of his races. He is an out-and-out stayer. If the mother-in-law called over for drinks, Gerri Colombe would still be the last man standing.
The cliche that anything he did over hurdles was going to be a bonus certainly applies here and while he is 2/2 in both bumpers and hurdles, he is another who has basically beaten nothing. In his odds-on victory over 2m 7f in Thurles in January, he momentarily looked in trouble around 3 out before staying on and going away at the line. With Gordon Elliot having both Fil D’or and Mighty Potter (who I expect to be aimed at 2 and 2m 4f trips), Three Stripe Life may be aimed at the 3m division, forcing Gerri to the longer distance. Robcour also has Journey with me who I expect to take high order in 3m contests. His profile suggests to me that a fence and a step up in trip may well show him to best effect and if he makes it there as stable number 1, he will also be aided by the talents of one JJ Codd in the saddle.
Blazing Khal (Brown Advisory) 20/1
My golden rule when putting together an early season Lucky 15 tip is to pick horses that will, in my opinion, likely run in the race I’ve selected. The fact that I am willing to break this rule to include Charles Byrnes’ exciting 6YO is a compliment to how special I think he could be.
He has Cheltenham form, twice beating impressive Aintree scorer Gelino Bello. He also counts one Noble Yeats amongst the horses he has conquered.
With opinions divided on whether he will tackle the Stayers Hurdle or go Novice Chasing, including him in this Cheltenham ante-post tip is a risky play. I can see both sides of the argument. My own view is that this could be a Gold Cup horse and with younger types being successful in big races in the last couple of years (A Plus Tard, Noble Yeats) it seems to be increasingly a “Young Man’s Game” so to speak. If he embarks on a hurdles campaign, he would be 9 running in his first Gold Cup and I think that may be too old.
If Byrnes was to announce in the morning that chasing was the chosen route, I think he would be half the price without seeing a race track. My advice is to take a swing while the price is high.
Read More: 5 National Hunt horses fo follow for the 2022/23 season.
Cheltenham 2023 Ante-posy Lucky 15
- Thedevilscoachman (Stayers Hurdle) 33/1
- Dysart Dynamo (Arkle) 20/1
- Gerri Colombe (National Hunt Chase) 20/1
- Blazing Khal (Brown Advisory) 20/1
A £1 each-way lucky 15 on these four Cheltenham Festival selections returns a whopping £375,000 if all four horses win. Of course, ante-post rules apply so there is a big risk with this bet, but even a couple of places will return a profit and it is a small risk, big reward bet and four horses to track through the jumps season.
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