With the declarations for day three of the Festival due to be made tomorrow morning, there is another angle for punters to be aware of at this time.
There are some contests that may end up having less than eight runners declared, leading to bookmakers only offering two places. However, if you bet now (when eight or more are still entered) you should be able to grab an extra place.
One race that could fall into this category is the Ryanair Chase, where 14 currently stand their ground. However, those 14 include many who look set to run elsewhere (or not at all) including Il Etait Temps, Firefox, Jonbon, Romeo Coolio, Energumene and Gaelic Warrior.
Now could, therefore, be the time to take some each way value about a horse like JPR ONE, who improved for the step up in trip last time out, has run well here before and won’t mind the drying ground.
Another horse who is currently engaged on day three that caught our eye is BOLD ENDEAVOUR in the Pertemps Final.
We’ve already flagged how this could be a big Festival for Nicky Henderson and Bold Endeavour is another handicapper who looks to have a very solid chance for the Severn Barrows maestro.
He’s ten now but has just returned to the yard after a spell with Laura Morgan and there was plenty of encouragement in his run in the Huntingdon qualifier, which was run on ground that would have been softer than he likes.
He runs here off of a mark of 130 and yet was 4th in the 2024 renewal off of 143. He was also a staying on 5th in the shorter Coral Cup in 2023 off of 140.
Bet365 currently offer stand-out odds of 16/1.
Finally, the Mares Hurdle is another race that could cut up and, if it does, JETARA could look like decent each way value.
Check out of the Cheltenham free bets for this years' Festival.