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Festival 2021 Pocket Guide

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DAVY RUSSELL’S CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2021 POCKET GUIDE STARSPORTS.BET THIS year’s Cheltenham Festival will be like no other. The greatest four days in the racing calendar will be run behind closed doors. There will be no famous Cheltenham roar, no packed stands, no Guinness Village - there will be an eery silence as the runners go down to post for the first race of the meeting. It’s still Cheltenham though. It’s still the Festival. On a personal note, it will be strange as this will be the first time I’ve not ridden at the meeting since turning professional. It will be a hard watch, but my injuries just haven’t healed in time. So, I hope you enjoy watching on from home and find this pocket guide as useful as ever. It’s packed full of the usual stats and my views on the feature races. I’ll be writing a daily blog as usual and will be taking part in previews and Zoom rooms galore. I wish you the very best of luck in your pursuit of winners and look forward to the day we all meet again and hear that roar. Davy THE SCHEDULE - TUESDAY 16TH MARCH - - THURSDAY 18TH MARCH - TIME RACE DISTANCE TIME RACE DISTANCE 1:20 Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 2m ½f 1:20 Marsh Novices’ Chase 2m 4f 1:55 Sporting Life Arkle Novices’ Chase 2m 1:55 Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle 3m 2:30 Ultima Handicap Chase 3m 1f 2:30 Ryanair Chase 2m 5f 3:05 Unibet Champion Hurdle 2m ½f 3:05 Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle 3m 3:40 Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle 2m 4f 3:40 Paddy Power Plate Handicap Chase 2m 5f 4:15 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle 2m 4½f 4:15 Parnell Properties Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle 2m 1f 4:50 National Hunt Chase 3m 6f 4:50 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase 3m 2f - WEDNESDAY 17TH MARCH - - FRIDAY 19TH MARCH - TIME RACE DISTANCE TIME RACE DISTANCE 1:20 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle 2m 5f 1:20 JCB Triumph Hurdle 2m 1f 1:55 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase 3m ½f 1:55 McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle 2m 1f 2:30 Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle 2m 5f 2:30 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle 3m 3:05 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase 2m 3:05 WellChild Cheltenham Gold Cup 3m 2½f 3:40 Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase 3m 6f 3:40 St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Chase 3m 2½f 4:15 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase 2m ½f 4:15 Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase 2m 5f 4:50 Weatherbys Champion Bumper 2m ½f 4:50 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle 2m 4½f SKY BET TIME: 1:20 TUESDAY SUPREME NOVICES’ HURDLE DISTANCE: 2M ½F 16TH MARCH - DAVY RUSSELL’S VERDICT - APPRECIATE IT sets the bar pretty high with his win in Leopardstown at the Dublin Racing Festival, cementing him as the one to beat here. However, don’t rule out runner-up BALLYADAM just yet as he’d have got a lot closer to the winner with a smoother jump at the last, and better ground will help him too. As for the home challenge, you’d have to say that Harry Fry’s METIER is the pick on his Sandown win if the rain arrives. Nico de Boinville celebrates Shishkin’s win last year - STAT ATTACK - Notes Winner’s Age 6 5 6 5 5 6 6 6 5 6 Winner’s SP 10/1 10/1 5/1 7/2f 2/1f 4/1 25/1 9/1 6/1 6/1 Fate of Favourite 4TH 7TH 2ND 1ST 1ST 2ND 2ND 11TH 10TH 4TH Winning Distance 2 1¼ ½ 6 4½ 7 2¼ NECK 4½ HEAD Previous Run 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 6TH 1ST 1ST 1ST - KEY TRENDS - • Only two favourites have won in the past 14 renewals • Only one four-year-old winner in the past 46 years • Nine of the last 10 winners had won their most recent start SPORTING LIFE TIME: 1:55 TUESDAY ARKLE NOVICES’ CHASE DISTANCE: 2M 16TH MARCH - DAVY RUSSELL’S VERDICT - The potential duel between SHISHKIN and Irish challenger ENERGUMENE has got everyone talking. It looks a good renewal with the likes of ALLMANKIND ensuring it’s not just a two horse race. Energumene has looked the real deal over fences this season and didn’t put a foot wrong in Leopardstown the last day. However, in Shishkin he meets a super talent and he’d just get my vote. He has that all-important Cheltenham Festival experience when he frustratingly beat me in last season’s Supreme. Put The Kettle On was a surprise winner in 2020 - STAT ATTACK - Winner’s Age 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 6 6 Notes Winner’s SP 6/1 8/11 f 8/13 f 33/1 4/6f 1/4f 1/4f 5/6f 5/1 16/1 Fate of Favourite 4TH 1ST 1ST 2ND 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 7TH 6TH Winning Distance 2¾ 7 2¼ HEAD 6 7 6 14 13 1½ Previous Run 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST - KEY TRENDS - • Six of the last nine winners returned odds-on • No five-year-old winner since 2006 • All of the last 10 winners had won their previous start UNIBET TIME: 3:05 TUESDAY CHAMPION HURDLE DISTANCE: 2M ½F 16TH MARCH - DAVY RUSSELL’S VERDICT - Ireland holds a strong hand with unbeaten mare HONEYSUCKLE lining up on the back of a brilliant win in the Irish Champion Hurdle. Plenty had questioned whether she had the speed for the drop back to two miles, but she showed a serious turn of foot the last day. She deserves to be favourite with the 7lb mares’ allowance a big help too. That said, I was blown away by the performance of GOSHEN in Wincanton and if he reappears in the same form, they might not catch him. Epatante (green silks) powered clear to win the race last year - STAT ATTACK - Winner’s Age 7 7 9 6 7 8 6 7 5 6 Notes Winner’s SP 11/4f 11/1 13 / 8 f 9/1 4/5f 5/2f 5/1 4/6f 16/1 2/1f Fate of Favourite 1ST 3RD 1ST 4TH 1ST 1ST DQ 1ST 6TH 1ST Winning Distance 3½ 1¼ 2¾ NECK 1½ 4½ 4½ NECK 15 3 Previous Run 1ST 2ND 1ST 4TH 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST - KEY TRENDS - • 19 of the last 28 winners had won a race at Cheltenham • Only four horses over the age of eight have won since 1951, the most recent being Hurricane Fly in 2013 • 11 of the past 19 winners were trained in Ireland DOWNLOAD KEY TRENDS TUESDAY THE APP TODAY (REMAINDER OF DAY ONE) 16TH MARCH 2:30 Ultima Handicap Chase • Nine of the last 13 winners had won over 3m or further • Irish trainers have only won the race twice since the turn of the century 3:40 Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle • Since its inception in 2008, Willie Mullins has won the race nine times • 10 of the 13 winners were sent off either favourite or second favourite 4:15 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle • Six of the past 10 winners were sent off 25/1 or bigger • 2019 winner Band Of Outlaws is the only winner to have won more than once that season 4:50 National Hunt Chase • Only three favourites have obliged since 1992 • 10 of the last 14 winners had run at least once at Cheltenham Notes BROWN ADVISORY TIME: 1:55 WEDNESDAY NOVICES’ CHASE DISTANCE: 3M ½F 17TH MARCH - DAVY RUSSELL’S VERDICT - If the same MONKFISH that jumped his rivals into the ground in Leopardstown at the Dublin Racing Festival turns up here, there will only be the one winner. He was brilliant that day and don’t forget that he has winning form at the Cheltenham Festival too. It’s hard to single out a serious rival and his main danger will definitely be the obstacles in front of him. EKLAT DE RIRE looks a promising chaser but has his work cut out here. Winning connections after Champ’s remarkable victory in 2020 - STAT ATTACK - Notes Winner’s Age 7 7 7 7 6 7 8 7 7 8 Winner’s SP 16/1 9/2 8/1 12/1 13 / 8 f 8/1 7/2f 5/2f 4/1 4/1 Fate of Favourite 5TH 4TH 4TH 2ND 1ST 3RD 1ST 1ST 3RD 3RD Winning Distance NECK 2½ 1¾ NECK 6 ½ NOSE 7 ½ 1 Previous Run 2ND 1ST 2ND 3RD 1ST 1ST 1ST 1ST 2ND FELL - KEY TRENDS - • Only five times has a seven-year-old not won the race since 1999 • Eight of the last 14 winners had won at Cheltenham before • 13 of the last 14 winners were rated 144 or higher BETWAY TIME: QUEEN MOTHER 3:05 WEDNESDAY DISTANCE: 17TH MARCH CHAMPION CHASE 2M - DAVY RUSSELL’S VERDICT - I had never been a fully signed-up member of the CHACUN POUR SOI fan club, but I have to admit that I had my head turned in Leopardstown. He did everything right including running away from the last all the way to the line. I had previously been worried about whether he would get up the Cheltenham hill, but I’m less concerned about that now. That said, the likes of ALTIOR will pressure him all the way to the line if back on song.
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