Mares Chase Betting Tips 2021 – Preview, Odds & Trends (Cheltenham Day 4, 4.50pm)

In October 2020, the BHA and Cheltenham Racecourse confirmed that there was to be a new race to be run at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival, the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase, which in turn is replacing the Novices’ Handicap Chase.

This will take place on the Friday, as the penultimate race of the meeting, and is a Grade 2 contest over 2 and a half miles.

Inevitably there will be mixed opinions on this race being introduced, especially with the Novices’ Handicap Chase moving away from the festival to Sandown, however, this should be an excellent spectacle, illustrating the current quality of mares across Britain and Ireland. The support and backing of the most decorated jockey at the meeting, Ruby Walsh, and Paul Nicholls, who has won 11 of the last 14 trainers’ championships provides the feeling that this could add to the already star-studded 4 days of racing.

With many of the potential runners holding entries for other races at the festival, the recommendation would be to play with a bookmaker offering non-runner no bet for Cheltenham 2021 if possible, although this will be taken into consideration in the price.

Mares Chase Odds

Mares Chase Preview

• Elimay
• Colreevy
• Benie Des Dieux
• Annie Mc

Elimay

At the top of the current antepost market is the JP McManus owned, and Willie Mullins trained Elimay, who started life over fences magnificently throughout the 2019/20 season, with a 2/2 record in some quality races over in Ireland. The 7-year-old does possess some Cheltenham form, running in a hot Mares Hurdle back in 2019 as one of only two 5-year olds in the field, and she will have come on a lot since then.

Her most recent outing came at the back end of January in a Grade 2 race at Thurles, where she ran a solid race in 2^nd to the well-respected Allaho, 79 lengths clear of the rest of the field that day. She likes to run from just off the pace, performing on softer and good ground throughout her career to date and if given a well-timed ride, she could be in with a great chance.

Colreevy

Another mare which appears to have a great chance is another Mullins runner in Colreevy, who has been very well supported over the last few months, having a 100% record over fences, the most impressive of which being her ½ length victory over Pencilfulloflead in the Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick on Boxing Day. She showed a real winning mentality that day after making a huge blunder at the second last fence, but rallied under a strong ride from Danny Mullins and provided plenty of evidence as to why she is so strongly fancied, particularly if she is able to race on her favoured soft ground.

Benie Des Dieux

At the moment it is very much up in the air as to where Willie Mullins will want to send Benie Des Dieux but given her rival from last year’s Mares’ Hurdle, Honeysuckle is now being directed towards the Champion Hurdle, it would make sense for her to go for gold in the Mares’ Hurdle, a feat she has come agonisingly close to in the past. However, Mullins does also train the current short-priced favourite Concertista for that contest and seemed keen on the idea of sending his 10-year-old back over fences, of which she does possess a 100% record.

Ridden by Paul Townend in her last five outings, the jockey/trainer partnership have not put a foot wrong of late, having enjoyed an extremely successful Dublin Racing Festival in February. The mare should certainly get the trip and has shown her versatility on ground from good to heavy throughout her career. She would be coming into this race off a lengthy break, although this has done her absolutely no harm in the past, and if being able to revert back to fences successfully, she would not be without a solid chance.

Put The Kettle On

Earlier this season it was very much believed that Henry De Bromhead would send Put The Kettle On to challenge the likes of Chacun Pour Soi and Altior in the Champion Chase come March. However, after her run against the short-priced Champion Chase favourite over the Christmas period it would come as no surprise to see De Bromhead enter his 7-year-old against her own sex in the first running of the Mares’ Chase. It cannot be denied she was mightily impressive in last year’s Arkle, winning at 16/1 and beating some good horses, however it certainly was not the best rendition of the race we have ever seen, and she would certainly be expected to be competitive in this field.

Reasons for backing her would be that she can run on any ground and has also won all 3 of her outings at Cheltenham in her career so far, always outrunning her odds. Despite running over shorter distances of around 2 miles recently, she has won over 2m4f in the past, and there is every chance she could run well over the longer distance.

Annie Mc

Jonjo O’Neill’s Annie Mc ran a brilliant race at Doncaster in the Yorkshire Silver Vase, before going on to be shortened again in the betting after a mightily impressive victory at Warwick, beating the field comfortably and staying on well. She’s a 7-year-old who has seemed to come on leaps and bounds this season, consistently running past her mark and making the handicapper’s job very challenging after improving for each and every run. She would certainly benefit from having soft ground on the day, but Jonjo O’Neill himself seems very pleased with her, claiming she was his best chance of a winner at the festival.

She is yet to win at Cheltenham and endured a fairly disappointing run in the 2020 Marsh Novices’ Chase followed by a fifth-place finish the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup back in December. Nevertheless, she will certainly have her supporters going into this race and few would be shocked if she was to win the inaugural running of the Mares’ Chase.

Mares Chase Betting Tip

This should be a brilliant addition to the Cheltenham Festival and looks an exciting and competitive race. With a lot of uncertainties in this market, the one I would side with would be Annie Mc at 10/1. She has had an excellent season so far, and currently looks to represent some good value if able to produce a big run at the Festival.

EACH-WAY BET: Annie Mc – 10/1 with Betfred.

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