Cheltenham Festival: Nick Luck's Day 2 Tips

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AFTER one winner and two places @nickluck can count his first day at the Cheltenham Festival a success. He's back to look at Day two's best chances across all seven races…

It is folly to try and oppose Douvan in the Queen Mother Champion Chase (3.30), he could be one of the all-time greats. So let’s get involved in the ‘without the favourite’ market, and the one that makes most appeal to finish in the three is GARDE LA VICTOIRE who has a very respectable record at this track, including winning a Greatwood Hurdle.

Richard Johnson has a fine record at getting horses into the frame in this race, particularly on horses that didn’t appear to have an obvious chance. Yes, I would like to see Garde La Victoire’s jumping sharpen up a little but I didn’t think he jumped too badly at Sandown last time under a big weight and I can see him keeping on when others have cried enough.

Of the others, I wouldn’t be totally surprised to see Top Gamble go okay even though the ground might be on the lively side for him. I thought he ran well in the Clarence House Chase and he’s had a wind operation since.

Like everybody else, I’m very keen on the chances of NEON WOLF in the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle (1.30). It was impossible not to be extremely impressed with his victory at Haydock and connections clearly think the world of him.

There have been a couple of interesting ones fly into the race late, one of which is Consul Des Thaix who has a pretty high level of form and it’s interesting connections have come here rather than trying to exploit what looks a pretty favourable handicap mark. I’ll be having a few quid on him at the 16-1 currently on offer.

The other horse I am mildly attracted to in the Neptune is De Dollar Man who comes out of the Beyond Conceit race at Ascot. He always travels like a good horse and his trainer isn’t one prone to running horses out of their grade.

People seem to think that the RSA Chase (2.10) is ripe for getting the favourite MIGHT BITE beat and I’m not sure I agree, he could go off a very backable price and I suspect he could have too much basic speed for his rivals. I appreciate there are concerns about the track and I appreciate there are concerns that he is by Scorpion, but he’s always been by Scorpion and he’s always had a lot of ability, so I’m not going to use that as a stick to beat him with. I certainly don’t think he is ungenuine and he could dominate the field from some way out.

I will have a couple of darts at the Coral Cup (2.50) where Tombstone is a perfectly worthy market leader but there must be horses at double figure prices capable of giving him something to think about. The first of which could be SUPASUNDAE who wants a strongly run two and a half miles on decent ground so he has everything in his favour. Another who makes appeal is MODUS who got a slap from the handicapper for hosing up in the Lanzarote Hurdle but he did win that very very easily and the form has worked out well.

I don’t have a particularly strong view in the Cross Country Chase but I do think that Cantlow is a favourite worth taking on – I just feel he isn’t one of the great Enda Bolger Cross Country horses. I suspect AUVERGNAT could run very well despite apparently having a mountain to climb on the ratings. He just seems to really enjoy this discipline, he’s won over the banks course at Punchestown and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him go well.

Lots of horses have been talked up in the Fred Winter (4.50) but the one I’m keen on is DINO VELVET who gets weight from a lot of horses of which he has comparable ability. Alan King has been keen on his chance in recent preview evenings and he’s got a strong hand in the juvenile hurdle division this year.

The Champion Bumper (5.30) can go the way of CAUSE TOUJOURS who has reportedly been working extremely well and I couldn’t have been more impressed with his victory at Warwick in December. He’s been kept for this and the Skelton team appear to think a good deal of him.