CHELTENHAM NH FESTIVAL 2019 -- TUESDAY 12th MARCH (CHAMPION HURDLE DAY)

NOT MUCH ROOM TO MOVE IN HERE

Welcome to the opening day of the 2019 Cheltenham Festival, the Gloucestershire course will be expecting over 250,000 people over the duration of the meeting, and that will include a capacity 70,000+ on Friday for Gold Cup Day itself. It's the best meeting in the country and top class NH Racing anywhere, although you will not be able to move for the amount of Irish people this week.

CHELTENHAM NH FESTIVAL– TUESDAY MARCH 12th 2019
1.30pm 2m 110yds Supreme Novices Hurdle	Supreme Novices Hurdle  Day one, Race one, of the 2019 NH Festival and we're off... The Supreme novices hurdles gets us under way,with a strong field of 18 declared to begin with as the battle between UK and Ireland is declared. The home side will have ANGELS BREATH up against the Irish KLASSICAL DREAM and the pair are expected to be there over the last.  At a massive price (100/1 shot) going to have a small bet on TOKAY DOKEY to place . Updates throughout the week. Result -- 1st; KLASSICAL DREAM 6/1. Nice to start the meeting with a winner
2.10pm 2m Arkle Chase	Arkle Challenge Trophy Next is the Arkle Chase, named after the famous Gold Cup winner from the mid 1960s a field of 12 to pick through looks more open than recent wins by Footpad and Altior in fact the last four favourites have won all at odds-on.  LALOR has been all the rage this season but I feel this is his biggest test on ground not ideal. My fancy is GLEN FORSA here for the team that gave us a big win with Mister Whitaker at last years festival.  The Irish challenge is strong although no stand out fancy will go with DUC DES GENIEVRES [WON 5/1] who appears to be getting it together at the right time now winning a big field chase by 15L.  Result -- 1st; DUC DES GENIEVRES 5/1.  Two from Two ... happy
2.50pm 3m 1f Festival H'cap Chase	Festival Handicap Chase  The first big chase of the festival with 26 runners declared and market looks wide open at about 7/1 the field. It's a good chance for our friend MISTER WHITAKER to claim another valuable festival win today and this 7yo should find plenty up the hill.  Last years winner COO STAR SIVOLA reappears and shouldn't be underestimated although this looks tougher. If the rain comes then VINTAGE CLOUDS [2nd 16/1] can be of interest at 33/1 in the place markets.  Result -- 1st; BEWARE THE BEAR 10/1.
3.30pm 2m 110yds Champion Hurdle	Champion Hurdle  The opening day's feature race is of course the Champion Hurdle and this year we're missing a few of the big guns from recent years but there's still a quality field. Last years winner BUVEUR D'AIR (FELL) lines up again in great form and will a very short price to repeat his success of twelve months ago despite a surprise defeat over Christmas will be 100% for this event. The strongest opponent is the mare APPLES JADE who is four from four this season and has a useful 7lb weight allowance, while I don't expect this to be a 'match' the rest are about 10/1 bar these two. Laurina I would have expected to see contest the mares hurdle later on but her she is, although I fear out of her depth against the front pair.  Result -- 1st; ESPOIR D'ALLEN 16/1.
4.10pm 2m 4f Mares Hurdle	"David Nicholson" Mares Hurdle (2m 4f) The Mares Hurdle is a Grade 2 hurdle run over run over two miles and about four and a half furlongs. It is open to mares only, aged five and above .  Willie Mullins has a strong team and will probably have the short priced favourite with BENIE DES DIEUX (FELL) although at the price might be one for the accumulates this week and is probably the reason that Laurina tries he luck in the Champion Hurdle instead.  All the dangers to the favourite are also trained by Willie Mullins which includes the likes of Limini, Stormy Island and Elimay.  The consistent form of JESTER JET makes that one a viable place option but the fav does look fairly bomb proof. Result -- 1st; ROKSANA 10/1.
4.50pm 2m 4f Novices Chase	Close Brothers Novices Handicap Chase (2m 4f) Our penultimate race on the opening day is a novices chase over 2 1/2 miles, where we have a field of 20 declared. .  Had a nice winner in this last year and hopefully we can find the winner again today. Top weight HIGHWAY ONE O ONE jumps well, has winning form and should make a bold bid here, along with the handicap debut of TOWER BRIDGE a decent hurdler in good hands under trainer JP O'Brien and might be worth sticking with over fences.  QUAMINO at 20/1 looks interesting too. Result -- 1st; A PLUS TARD 5/1F.
5.30pm 4m NH Chase (Amateur Riders)	Toby Balding National Hunt Handicap Chase (4m) The National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup is a Class B chase run over four miles. It is the oldest race at the festival and is open to novices aged five years old and upwards, all horses are ridden by amateur jockeys who have to be Category B (Britain) and Category C (Ireland) riders to take part in the race.  Looking at the jockey bookings here amongst the 18 runners, makes us want to short list BALLYWARD [Willie Mullins] and OK CORAL [Nicky Henderson]. Don't exclude the bottom weight, ATLANTA ABLAZE, the only mare in the field and has one of the top amateur jockeys on board, stays well, and 16/1 looks big. Result -- 1st; LE BREUIL 14/1.  Enjoy your Cheltenham Festival this week.

Good Luck today 
The days results should appear during the course of the afternoon. 
Two winners from Two to kick off, a nice start so far

With Wednesdays details updated and published soon too. Enjoy.