Our dreadful run came to an end on Champions Day. No winners, but we landed places with No Half Measures and Almaqam and we weren’t far off with Docklands and Bopedro. The jumpers now take centre stage, my 2025 Cheltenham Showcase Meeting Friday tips are below.
1.15 – William Hill Handicap Hudle (Class 3)
A nice and easy start with a 20-runner class 3 handicap
hurdle. The ground is good to soft at the time of writing and with showers
forecast, the track is unlikely to dry out too much.
John McConnell won this a couple of years ago with the veteran
Seddon and last year Anna Bunina finished second for him. This year, his sole
representative is Montecam, and he looks a bit overpriced to me at odds of 28/1.
Formerly trained by Nicky Henderson, for whom he won a
Herford maiden hurdle (19.5f, gd-sft) in 2024, this son of Camelot produced his
best effort to date for McConnell on his latest start at Bellewstown (20.5f, good).
Held up in midfield, he ran on well from the second last and
found only the locally trained Birmingham Alabama too good. 5l back in fourth
was Shadow Paddy, to whom Montecam was conceding 3lb, and he has since gone on
to win a Listed handicap and a listed race at Limerick and is now rated 130.
With Alex Harvey’s claim, Montecam is effectively running off
119 here and he was only beaten around 2l off 118 when fourth over an
inadequate trip at Newbury for Henderson in March so he has already proven he
can be competitive off this sort of mark. At odds of 28/1, he is the each way
selection.
2025 Cheltenham Showcase Meeting Friday Tip: Montecam e/w
@ 28/1 (5 places)
1.50 – Holland Cooper Novices’ Chase (Class 2)
Only seven runners here but it’s an interesting little race
that will be well worth watching with a view to the future. Gavin Cromwell has
won the last two renewals so Addragoole has to be respected and Gordon Elliott’s
promising pair King of Kingsfield and Relieved Of Duties are capable of running
big races.
Olly Murphy’s horses have been in sparkling form so you
couldn’t write off Alnilam (who beat Country Mile at Uttoxeter 19 days ago) and
Paul Nicholls will be keen to make an early statement with Centara, a handicap
chase winner off 131 at Newton Abbott last time out.
I’m not going to get involved here but if I were forced to
have a bet, it would be on Alnilam simply because of the form of the yard. Hopefully
it’s a cracking race and they all come home safe and sound.
2025 Cheltenham Showcase Meeting Friday Tip: No Bet
2.25 – Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle (Class 3)
Rather surprisingly, for a race of this nature, there has
only been one double figure priced winner in the last ten years. That surely has
to change at some point, right?
The horse that makes most appeal to me at bigger odds is the
rag, Scintillante. This son of Roaring Lion was in fine form in class 4 company
during the summer months. He won easily off 97 at Worcester (2m, good) in July
and he went on to finish second off 105 and again off 108 at the same track in his
next two starts.
Last time out he was pitched into a class 2 and ran a
stinker, though he was 5lb out of the weights running off 117. He runs off 112
here (due to drop 1lb) and this is not as strong a race. On his penultimate
start he was 0.5l behind An Bradan Feasa, who won again on his next start and
his stablemate Mix Of Clover, who was 7l back in third, hacked up next time out
too.
Another cause for optimism is the form of this yard.
Alistair Ralph has had seven runners in the last fortnight and four of them won
(one second). Ralph has never had a winner
at Cheltenham (0-30, four seconds), hopefully Scintillante runs a nice race for
him here at odds of 33/1.
2025 Cheltenham Showcase Meeting Friday Tip: Scintillante
e/w @ 33/1 (4 places)
3.00 – Oddschecker Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2)
It’s great to see such a big field for this Grade 2 novice
hurdle, even if there is a bit of dead wood in it. Un Sens A La Vie currently
heads the market and he has looked an exciting prospect in winning his bumper
by 3.5l and a maiden hurdle by 7.5l, both at Market Rasen.
However, his sole defeat came on his only start going left
handed in a P2P so I’d urge caution if you are considering steaming in at skinny
enough odds. Hopefully this is a good day for John McConnell because I am going
to back another of his runners here.
Jackson Lamb is on a hat-trick after winning a maiden at
Bellewstown (20.5f, good) and a Kelso novice (2m5f, good). A front runner, he
drops back markedly in trip here so I would imagine the plan is to be aggressive
on him out in front and turn this into a test of stamina rather than speed.
Now, there are a couple of other potential front-runners in
here (Jack Hyde and Run For Mahler) so if they decide to set off lickety split
in front, hopefully Alex Harvey is happy to let them set off and turn it into a stamina test. If you go back to his debut run in a bumper at
Roscommon he stayed on well after being held up in midfield early on so it’ll
be fascinating to see how things unfold tactically. Either way, at odds of
18/1, Jackson Lamb is the each way selection.
2025 Cheltenham Showcase Meeting Friday Tip: Jackson Lamb
e/w @ 18/1
3.35 – Handicap Chase (Class 2)
Chester Williams has made a flawless start to his training
career. Two runners (both ridden by Harry Cobden), two winners and he’ll be
hoping to make it three from three with Uncle Phil in this 2m handicap chase.
It is hard to make a case for this horse on what he did in
2024 when with Willie Mullins but Haas Boy was similarly out of form for his former
yard and he won on his first start for Williams after a 225 day absence.
Uncle Phil was last seen in November 2024 running down the
field in a listed handicap chase at Fairyhouse. In January of that year he won
a Grade 3 handicap over the same C&D off a mark of 139 and he is only 6lb
higher here.
He has won over fences going left-handed too, so the track
configuration is not a worry and he is effective on good and soft ground.
Hopefully Williams has sweetened Uncle Phil up, if he has he may well recoup
the 14,000gns he shelled out for him back in April in one fell swoop.
2025 Cheltenham Showcase Meeting Friday Tip: Uncle Phil e/w
@ 14/1
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