Place De La Nation ran a belter to finish third in the Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle.
She was towards the rear after another false start. It didn't hinder him too much, as she got into a nice position and in free air to get a clear vision of her jumps. She went very wide down the hill and, turning for home, stuck to her task, but wasn't strong enough in the finish to win. 22/1 place money, not the end of the world.
The Stayers' Hurdle was a farce. There was no pace on offer, and the crawl didn't suit Ma Shantou. When this happens, it does annoy me, as we don't know whether the horse was beaten because of the pace or if he wasn't good enough. Time will tell whenever they all match up again. But seeing Home By The Lee win at 33/1 shows what a farce it was.
Minella Academy 16/1 (0.5pt EW, 4pl) – Cheltenham 1.20 pm (Triumph Hurdle)
With the antepost favourite being a non-runner from a couple of weeks ago, it has opened this race up massively. Narciso Has won the Grade 1 at the DRF, and won it easily. If he turned up, he would have been hard to beat, but since he's not here, it has opened the betting.
Willie Mullins is the man to follow for this race; he has won five of the last six renewals, unleashing some smart horses in the process. Horses like Lossiemouth, Vauban and Majborough all won this race and had/having great careers.
Paul Townend has opted for the Ricci mare, Selma De Vary, who was second to Narciso Has in the Grade 1. It's a very safe pick, but we saw how an outside of Willie's can land this race. Poniros was unraced over hurdles, but won this last year at odds of 100/1. Obviously, that's going to happen 1/100 times, and having another big-priced winner isn't likely, but I do like Minella Academy.
Originally, I crossed him off my list, but he was bought for a big price out of John Nallen's yard. John was the previous trainer of Minella Study, who is much shorter in the market. Minella Academy went off at 4/5F for his race, whereas Minella Study wasn't as strong in the betting for his debut, winning at 9/4. That shows me that his previous trainer felt that my selection was better than Minella Study.
There is a huge difference in price, and that's because Minella Study has gone on to do well for his new trainer. However, Danny Mullins is on board, and he gets second dibs for this trainer, so it's interesting that this has been the selection of Danny, rather than one of the others who has raced for the yard.
Spindleberry 5/1 (1pt) – Cheltenham 2.40 pm (Mares' Chase)
For whatever reason, I've never managed to take to Dinoblue. I've always tried to get her beat whenever having a bet in a race she is in, and it's probably because she is always a short price when running against other mares.
The ground should get much more testing from day three, as the rain is meant to continue after racing finishes and throughout the night. When this happened, and it made it more of a stamina test, Dinoblue was beaten by Limerick Lace. The version of Limerick Lace in this race is Panic Attack; she doesn't carry any penalty and stays much further. She is also getting short in the market, and I think the value is now on Spindleberry.
My only concern with Spindleberry is her jumping. She can whack fences and walk through them, but when she does, it doesn't stop her momentum. Her run at Doncaster was impressive, given the number of mistakes she made, and on the back of that, I think she could be very smart. If she can brush up on her jumping, which is a possibility with Paul taking over in the saddle, she is a solid bet.
I was really tempted by Only By Night, but she had to have been flattered to finish where she did in last year's Arkle.
Jalon d'Oudairies 20/1 (0.5pt EW, 4pl) – Cheltenham 3.20 pm (Albert Bartlett)
Of all the novice hurdle races, this is the one where you can often find a big-priced winner. It doesn't always happen, and you will find a very smart horse going forward, but it doesn't look like a strong field.
We often see horses from the Supreme go on to be strong stayers, and I think the same can be said about Champion Bumper horses. Last year's winner of this race won the Champion Bumper in 2024, back in third that day was the favourite Jalon d'Oudairies. My selection for this race must've had a big problem, as he was off the track for over 600 days and missed the entire last season.
He came back and finished second on his first two starts over hurdles, but then got his win. I'm not concerned about the horses he lost to on his first two starts, as chances are that he needed those runs to get up to speed. Last time out, he won an egg and spoon race, but showed that the ability is still there.
I don't know if he'll stay the trip, but he had plenty of class in bumpers and beat some well-regarded horses, including The Passing Wife, who is much shorter in this race. He is a PTP winner, so everything points towards him liking this trip. He handles the track, and at a price, I thought he had an outside chance.
Wrappedupinmay 10/1 (0.5pt EW, 4pl) – Cheltenham 4.40 pm (Hunters' Chase)
I saw Tom Segal speaking about races like this, and he likes them because you can find value, as people won't want to have a bet in them. Usually, I'd skip this race, but going through the runners, I liked the look of Wrappedupinmay.
The trainer knows what he is doing with these types of races, so his runners need to be seriously respected. He won this race last year with Wonderwall and won the 2023 Kim Muir. Wonderwall returns, so he will be prominent in the betting, but I wanted to take a chance on his other runner.
Wrappedupinmay was not a great jumper of a fence when trained by Paul Nicholls, but since moving to S Curling, he has won two points, looking impressive on both starts. This is a very similar route to Wonderwall last year, and since he is only an eight-year-old and has only had four starts over fences, there's plenty to believe he can improve.
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