Day four of the Cheltenham Festival will see Galopin Des Champs attempt to etch his name alongside some of the greats of the game with a third Cheltenham Gold Cup win. However, our in-house tipster is veering away from the blue riband event of the week and picks out his best bets for Friday 14th March, 2025.
2:00pm Cheltenham – William Hill County Handicap Hurdle
Several will head into this with a big chance and while the likes of reigning champion Absurde, Kargese and Lark In The Morning have to come under careful consideration, it’s one of those races that has occasionally thrown up a shock winner and with enhanced places available then it’s worth taking a chance on a massive priced runner.
The one that catches the eye at 50/1, at the time of writing, is Chris Gordon’s OUR CHAMP, who was last seen finishing in the mid-division in the William Hill Hurdle at Newbury. Held up off the pace that day he never got himself into contention, but dropped 1lb he looks more than capable of playing a notable role here. Freddie Gordon will take another 3lbs off him here, so he looks very attractively handicapped and having been a previous winner at this track he could well cause a major shock.
3:20pm Cheltenham – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle
Mark Fahey’s FLICKER OF HOPE has taken a pretty unconventional route to the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, but the improving handicapper is looking to make waves in Graded company and he looks more than capable of featuring prominently here. Wins at Galway and Navan saw his mark rocket up and he wasn’t disgraced when last seen finishing third in a red-hot Leopardstown handicap.
This is undoubtedly a lot tougher and the likes of The Big Westerner and Jasmin De Vaux are entitled to be well fancied and have decent form in the book, but the improving Flicker Of Hope could give them something to think about and is the value play in a really tricky betting heat.
5:20pm Cheltenham – Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle
All the talk about the Martin Pipe in recent weeks has involved the new French recruit Kopeck De Mee, who will be having his debut for Willie Mullins and will run in the silks of JP McManus. He has some smart form in France and could be very well handicapped for this contest, but in Woodhoh he will have a lively adversary and the pair dominate the betting.
With them being so short in the betting then there’s value elsewhere and the one that stands out is Gordon Elliott’s THE ENABLER, who was an impressive winner over 2m 4f two starts ago, but failed to fire over two miles at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival. Going back up in trip for this event, the Cullentra House inmate looks more than capable of improving for the return to two-and-a-half and he could well be staying on well up the hill to fight out the finish.
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