After what might have been a long twelve months, the greatest jumping festival is back on our screens.
The Cheltenham Festival is bigger than the likes of Royal Ascot for many, me included. For others, it's what they've been waiting for since the turn of the jumps season started in October.
We're missing quite a lot of old stars and future stars at this year's meeting, but it will still be a fantastic spectacle and full of drama.
Old Park Star 5/2 (1pt) – Cheltenham 1.20 (Supreme Novices' Hurdle)
In recent years, this race has been dominated by Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins. I think the same could be said about the race this year, but we do have a couple of horses for whom you could easily make a case.
In my opinion, I've been an Old Park Star since I saw him win at Kempton. He wasn't ultra-impressive, but he put in a smart enough performance to get my attention. Unfortunately, I went against him for his next run at Cheltenham, and he pulled my pants down with a spectacular performance. That way, the time I thought, wow, this lad could be a superstar. At the time, he was 16/1 for the Supreme, as all the hype was for Mydaddypaddy. That horse had his bubble burst at Aintree, and then Old Park Star slowly became the ante-post favourite.
Last time out in the Trial race at Haydock, he looked like another version of Siskin and Constitution Hill mixed together. I don't think we'll see a natural hurdling machine like Constitution Hill was in his first couple of seasons, but on his way to the Supreme in 2021, he put in some insane performances, and that is what made me think this lad could be tough to beat.
I think a solid run race will suit him best, and that is something we normally get in the Supreme. His form looks solid on everything we've seen so far, and he deserves to be the favourite. Boring selection, but I've loved what I've seen from him in his short career to date. I'm not saying it's an easy race for him to win, as El Cairos would be a player if his jumping was solid, and Mighty Park has a huge reputation.
GambleAware
I only used to bet on horses that were tipped on here by the old regulars – Elvis parsley, azzwigan, bus stop etc as I know very little about racing but thought I’d share a promo Boylesports are doing for Cheltenham. Money back as a free bet on all losers in the first race of each day. Up to £10. Not a bad offer considering Boylesports are very very tight in my opinion 👍