It’s the first day in 2025 and the traditional Cheltenham New Year’s Day meeting will light up the ITV Racing cameras on Wednesday afternoon. Our in-house tipster Steve Chambers previews the action at Prestbury Park and picks out his three best bets on the card…
2:05pm Cheltenham – Betfair Exchange Handicap Chase
A winner of this race two years ago off a 3lbs lower mark, MIDNIGHT RIVER will be hoping that he can recapture the form he showed when landing this prize in 2023. Well beaten in the Coral Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Newbury on his last outing, Dan Skelton’s charge has been struggling for form of late, but he showed when landing this prize that on his day he is a quality staying handicapper. The likes of December Gold Cup winner Gemirande and Springwell Bay will be notable rivals, while Hitman off top weight is interesting, but Midnight River is a classy performer on his day and has to be respected at decent each-way odds.
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2:40pm Cheltenham – Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdle
Henry Daly’s STRACKAN has been in the form of his life of late notching up wins at Uttoxeter and Bangor-on-Dee and the progressive five-year-old can make it three wins on the bounce in the 2:40pm at Cheltenham. An impressive four-and-a-half length winner last time out, he’s been relishing testing conditions of late, so will have quicker ground to deal with on Wednesday, but he looks to have the potential to go in again off a 9lbs higher mark. This is much tougher, but he is capable of more on the track and is the solid play here.
ITV Racing Tips – Three Picks for New Year’s Day Action at Cheltenham
The New Year heralds another cracking day of racing at Cheltenham. With racing live on ITV, here are GG tipster Joe Napier’s best bets on the day. 2.05 Cheltenham – Betfair Exchange Handicap Chase Gemirande boasts serious claims of completing his hat-trick after winning the December Gold Cup over course and distance last month, but…
Mon 30 Dec 20243:15pm Cheltenham – Dornan Engineering Relkeel Hurdle
Fourth in the Coral Cup at the Cheltenham Festival back in March, Nicky Henderson’s LUCKY PLACE returned with a stunning victory in the Grade 2 Ascot Hurdle in November and the Seven Barrows inmate can continue up the ladder with victory in the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle at 3:15pm. Looking to potentially throw his name into the wide open Stayers’ Hurdle division, the five-year-old is likely to continue to improving throughout this season and he could have more potential than the likes of Langer Dan and Golden Ace, who look the main dangers.
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