Cheltenham 2025 Day 3: Best Each-Way selections on St Patrick’s Thursday

Jasko Des Dames was another Each Way placed selection, which made is two from two across the first couple of days of the Cheltenham Festival. 

It's going to be difficult to keep having selections placed at good odds, but we will definitely try and who knows, we might be able to sneak a win.

Ryanair Chase

Rizzel's tip

It could be extremely foolish to go for an each-way play in a race which has been dominated over the years by the classier types, but God loves a trier and based on how this week has gone so far, it's definitely worth going against the favourites, even though it can't continue, or can it?

Fact To File is the horse who will be in plenty of punter's acca's on day three, and it's an obvious reason why. This horse has probably got the best form in the book, albeit over a longer distance, but the form behind Galopin Des Champs is rock-solid and a repeat performance of those runs will make him a tough nut to crack. He is short enough in the betting, and I'd like to take him on purely on the fact that this is an afterthought. He has been trained for the Gold Cup all season, but once connections knew Galopin Des Champs had his measure, they changed their direction and have gone for this race instead, which isn't ideal. He is classy enough to win this race and probably has the speed for it as well as he did finish second in the Champion Bumper a couple of years ago.

The French-trained horse, Il Est Francais bring a different dynamic to this race as he only knows one way of running and that is from the front. This horse is a lovely horse to watch when he is in full flight and pinging fences at a ridiculous speed. I've seen that Cairnzy has stuck him up on the main thread, so if my horse doesn't win then I'd obviously want him Il Est Francais to do the deed and land a win. He has been campaigned over further and horses who have gone to the King George in the past don't have a great record in this race, and this track poses different questions to the flat track he seems brilliant around. What I know is that he is going to set a very good gallop, and if he can't maintain it on a stiffer track and a shorter distance, it could set it up for a closer.

I ended up taking a chance on the 20/1 shot Heart Wood who hails from the Henry De Bromhead stable. Henry hasn't had a winner so far this week, but his horses have been running well, including my each-way bet yesterday, as well as Ballyadam running a nice race in the Coral Cup. Heart Wood is still unexposed at this trip, and even though he is held by Fact To File over longer as he finished fourth in the Savills at Leopardstown over Christmas, I think this shorter trip is better for him than the 3m he faced last time out. His form isn't as good as those ahead of him in the market, but I think a quick gallop at this trip could be what the doctor ordered. Darragh O'Keefe fancies him instead of Jungle Boogie who is shorter in the market and I think he has a much better chance than his odds suggest.

Selection: Heart Wood 20/1 Each Way (3 places)

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