Staking a Claim Week 1 Selections: Weekly Cheltenham 2023 Ante-Post Tips with our Brand New Head-to-Head Feature

Staking A Claim is our brand new tipping feature where we have pitted together two Cheltenham Festival ante-post punters who will be tipping a weekly selection for the Festival between now and March.

Each week, both Ciaran and Adam (OB) will be picking one ante-post punt for the Cheltenham Festival at the current odds as we watch them build up their portfolio of bets. We will keep a record of each pick with the odds at the time of placing the bet and see which of them comes out with the most profit across the four days of Cheltenham.

All the selections will be recorded as a 1pt win or 0.5pts each-way and we haven’t restricted the tips to any particular bet so you can expect to see singles, doubles and even the odd treble for the tips.

You can also follow both Ciaran (@murphfinbarrs) and OB (@OB_14) on Twitter where they will be outlining all of their ante-post bets and thoughts ahead of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.

 

Ciaran’s Week 1 Bet

• Galopin Des Champs (Cheltenham Gold Cup)
• Allaho (Ryanair)

Current Odds: 10.25/1 with Coral

Picking winners is the name of the game here right? Well then let’s just get the obvious out of the way. ALLAHO wins the Ryanair.

To me, he was the horse of last year and has absolutely no chinks in his armour. The pace for a Champion Chase and possibly the stamina for a gold cup. The Ryanair course and distance is made for him.

He is 6/4 now but going through the betting, I got to 33/1 Blue Lord before I even found a likely runner (possibly 18/1 Edwardstone will step up). Either way no-one gets close to Allaho and you are taking 6/4 on a historically sound horse to get to Cheltenham. If he does he may be 1/4 on the day. 

But 6/4 isn’t making anyone rich so I have decided to double him up. There were a couple of options but it is still difficult to pinpoint which novices are going where at the moment. I was looking for a horse that I felt was fairly certain to line up in a specific race and while I was always confident that my selection was going to go in the Gold. Cup, Willie Mullins’ stable tour gave virtual confirmation (if that is something we can ever say about WPM) that this was the target.

If Allaho was the horse of last year, GALOPIN DES CHAMPS could be this year’s superstar. The Martin Pipe tends to favour Stayers (Don Poli, Champagne Classic, Sir Des Champs) so, unlike some, I don’t believe Stamina will be an issue. His jumping in his Beginners Chase was breathtaking, earning him the highest-ever RPR for a beginner chase. After Cheltenham, Timeform gave him the second highest ever+ rating for a Novice Chaser, only behind Douvan and level with Altior and Sprinter Sacre. And being mentioned in this company doesn’t flatter him in my opinion. I think that while A Plus Tard is a good horse, last year’s race wasn’t a vintage renewal and this will be his 3rd go at a grueling race which has begun to favour younger horses.

The Double is freely available at 10.25/1 and I genuinely believe that this is a generous price for the 2 best chasers in training.

 

OB’s Week 1 Bet

• Gaillard Du Mesnil (National Hunt Chase)
• Delta Work (Cross Country)

Current Odds – 15/1 with bet365

I toyed for a while about who or what would be my first selection in this marathon and having to pick a bet every week can play with your mind. Timing of selections is everything but so too is backing winners. That is what we are here for so my first selection comes in the form of a double of 2 favourites I believe are certain to run in the races that I have put up.

Gaillard Du Mesnil in the National Hunt Chase (best price 9/2) and Delta Work in the Cross Country (2/1 with the same bookie) are the right favourites for their respective races and at just over 15/1 for the double, I’m happy to tip and back them.

The worse kept secret during the spring/summer was that Gaillard Du Mesnil is the National Hunt Chase winner. All the ‘shrewd’ folk were on after he finished 3^rd in the Irish National which kept his novice status for another year, making him a perfect candidate for the NHC. He ticks a lot of the boxes you look out for, for the race and will almost certainly be ridden by Patrick if he turns up.

Last year’s contest only brought 6 horses to post (4 Irish & 2 Rebecca Curtis runners) and I envisage another small field again come March. He seems a short price now but will definitely be shorter on the day. I think the NHC is a good betting race as not every trainer/owner likes or targets the race so it is one of the easier races to spot who might be aimed at it a long way out.

Delta Work had the unfortunate role of the party pooper in this year’s renewal of the Cross Country as he didn’t read the script of letting Tiger Roll win his 6^th race at the Festival. Booed into the winner’s enclosure at Cheltenham, the horse definitely didn’t deserve that, and I’m hoping he can make up for that next March by walking into the enclosure in loud cheers.

I cannot see a horse getting close to Delta Work in this sphere and I expect him to dominate the division for a while. A proper graded animal in his prime, he is showing no signs of tailing off just yet and I would be confident of him adding another Cross Country win to connections again.

 

Staking a Claim Tips so Far

	Ciaran	OB
Week 1	Galopin Des Champs (Cheltenham Gold Cup) & Allaho (Ryanair) ODDS: 12.5/1	Gaillard Du Mesnil (National Hunt Chase) Delta Work (Cross Country) ODDS: 15/1
Week 2	Dysart Dynamo (Arkle) ODDS: 16/1	Brandy Love (Mares Hurdle) ODDS: 5/1
Week 3	Honeysuckle (Champion Hurdle) ODDS: 4/1	Chapeau De Soleil (Champion Bumper) ODDS: 12/1
Week 4	Ashroe Diamond (Mares Novice) ODDS: 9/1	Blazing Khal (Stayers Hurdle) ODDS: 6/1
Week 5	Proschema EW (Stayers Hurdle) ODDS: 25/1	Jet Powered (Supreme Novices' Hurdle) ODDS: 14/1
Week 6	Grangeclare West (Ballymore) ODDS: 10/1	Telmesomethinggirl (Mares Chase) ODDS: 8/1
Week 7	James Du Berlais (Brown Advisory Chase) EW ODDS: 20/1	Lossiemouth (Triumph Hurdle) and Luccia (Mares novice hurdle) ODDS: 19/1 win double
Week 8	Hiddenvalley Lake (Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle) ODDS: 8/1	Three Stripe Life (Brown Advisory Novices Chase) ODDS: 14/1 win double
Week 9	Barry The Butcher (Champion Bumper) ODDS: 20/1	Impaire Et Passes (to win any race) ODDS: 6/1 win double
Week 10	Salvador Ziggy (Pertemps) ODDS: 25/1	Three Card Brag (Albert Bartlett) ODDS: 14/1
Week 11	Arctic Bresil Without Favile Vega (Supreme Novices' Hurdle) ODDS: 20/1	El Fabiolo (Turners) ODDS: 10/1
Week 12	Fascile Mode (Champion Bumper) ODDS: 12/1	Risk Belle (The Boodles Fred Winter) ODDS: 16/1
Week 13	Tekao (Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle) ODDS: 8/1 NRNB	Selection: Chris’s Dream (Hunters Chase) ODDS: 10/1
Week 14	Brandy Love (Mares Hurdle) ODDS: 4/1 NRNB	Threeunderthrufive (Ultima Handicap Chase) ODDS: 12/1 NRNB
Week 15	Galvin (Cross Country Chase) ODDS: 6/1	Gerri Colombe (Brown Advisory Chase) ODDS: 8/1
Week 16	Inothewayyourthinking (Martin Pipe) ODDS: 16/1	Spanish Harlem (Martin Pipe) ODDS: 20/1
Week 17	Coole Cody (Plate Handicap) EW ODDS: 40/1	Bravemansgame (Gold Cup) ODDS: 8/1
Week 18	Shanbally Kid (Albert Bartlett) ODDS: 25/1 EW	Camprond (Coral Cup) ODDS: 20/1
Week 19	Gerri Colombe (Brown Advisory) & Mighty Potter (Turners)double ODDS: 6/1	Sharjah (County Hurdle) ODDS: 10/1 EW
Week 20	Dino Blue (Grand Annual) ODDS: 7/1	Mighty Potter (Turners Chase) & Edwardstone (Champion Chase) ODDS: 11/2

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