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I'm not going to lie, I can't stand this race but this is the Foxhunter's which is now known as the St. James's Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters' Chase for Amateur riders.
I can see why this race remains in the festival as it gives the Amateur riders a chance to showcase their talent and the PTP trainers get a chance of getting a win at Cheltenham, but it doesn't get me excited at all.
Cheltenham 4:10 – Quintin's Man 28/1 (0.5pt EW, PaddyPower)
I'm not going to spend too much time on this as it's not for me.
Premier Magic won this race last year, and has done nothing wrong since in his bid to win it for the second time. He followed up at Cheltenham the time after in May, winning at odds-on. Based on how he won last year and that he is unbeaten in PTPs and in Hunter races since, he is a likely player, but he is a year older and might find some younger horses too much for him.
It's On The Line is a strange horse, he was severely outpaced in this race last year when not fancied at odds of 28/1 but stayed on powerfully to nick second close home. He beat Billaway last time out in weird fashion when the runner-up was like 20L behind him before jumping the last and it got the winner flapping, but he managed to hold him off. JP McManus has acquired him since, but he is mightily short in the market now, especially in a race which has seen two 66/1 winners since 2020.
Fern's Lock was outstayed by the horse I just mentioned at Down Royal in December. He represents a yard who is desperate to win this race and has gone close with Vaucelet who was run down by Billaway a couple of years ago. He is at the top of the market, and probably deserves to be, but his stamina would concern me.
Given the nature of the race and that we've had 2x 66/1 winners, 2x 16/1 winners and 25/1 winner in the last ten years I'll chuck a few quid on an outsider and I've opted for Quintin's Man. There were a few other outsiders I liked, with Time Leader and Sine Nomine, but the former seems to do his best running on good ground (has good form from Aintree last year) and the latter is getting shorter and shorter in the market, so I've gone for Quintin's Man. This horse looks like a dour stayer, he is a huge horse and will relish the conditions. He ran a good prep race for today when finishing 3rd at Haydock on bottomless ground over 2m 6f and that looked far too short for him. He was plugging away at this finish and today's trip should bring out some improvement. He is a C&D winner from last May, winning by 17L by simply being the best stayer of the race. He was beaten by Sine Nomine at Stratford, but the ground was good and that sharp track was never going to suit this horse who has a huge frame.
