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You can almost hear it…. The famous roar that will ring in the ears of all around Cheltenham when the tapes go up for the first race in the third week of March.

As a bookie, Cheltenham is all I have been thinking about for the last month. It’s what will make or break our year, the turnover we take on those four spring days eclipse every other sporting event several times over. A good Cheltenham means a holiday in Barbados a bad one means it’s Barrybados instead.

If you’ve never been, you really should, there’s nothing like it. It’s blood pumping action, the equine athletes on the track are majestic, the jockeys sublime in their skill and the level of betting that takes place often frightening. I’ve had my best and worst days whilst stood on the track and this year we’re braced to take some big action online.

The main event is the Gold Cup which will be run on Friday the 17^th of March. Currently heading the market is Galopin Des Champs, at around the 6/4 mark. He’s the new up and coming horse, all class and built with an engine that purrs.

Prior to his last run there were question marks about him having the stamina to stay the 3- and 1/4-mile trip. He answered those questions in style @ Leopardstown a few weeks ago staying on strongly all the way to the line. However, that race hardly broke any land speed records and he had to fight a little harder than some expected to get his nose in front.

In my view his odds are too short and as a result that means there are horses in the field whose odds will be too big.  One of those horses is last year’s winner A Plus Tard. He blew the field apart when landing the prize in 2021.

I’m a big fan of horses that have ‘been there and done that.’ He’s only run once this season and to say he was disappointing is an understatement. But…. that was early in the season when he wouldn’t have been fully fit. Make no mistakes about it, he’ll be fit for this race. He loves the course, he’s proven he can handle the occasion, added to that he’s got stamina and class in abundance. At the current odds of 7/1 he’s a great each way bet.

The other horse that catches the eye is Luccia in the Mares Novice Hurdle which will be run on the Thursday. She’s currently fav and I know from painful (and expensive) experience that a heck of a lot of favourites have won this race down the years. Unbeaten in four runs and only five years old (a baby in racing terms.) She’s a horse that has huge untapped potential and her last win caught the eye not just in the manner and distance she won it by but the ease in which she did so.

Whatever happens at the festival I hope you have a profitable one (unless you’re betting with me of course!)

Keep your betting responsible, enjoy it and I look forward to sending you a postcard from Barbados…