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A Blaggers Guide to the Cheltenham Festival
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A Blaggers Guide to the Cheltenham Festival

Do Say: The winner of the Supreme (first race of the Festival) looks a great prospect for next year's Champion Hurdle. This is usually the preferred career route for the winner of the first race.

Don't Say: This winner looks so good, I wonder if they will breed from him. The vast majority of male horses at the Festival would have been 'gelded' (Google it - if you have the stomach for it) and won't be bred from like their championship counterparts in Flat racing.

Do Say: The French-named horse has a good chance! Rather than learning the difficult pronunciation of the French bred horses that usually dominate in the jumping sphere just blag it. You’ll usually cover the best chances in the race by saying just that.

Don’t Say: Why aren’t they jumping any fences in this race? Chances are you’re watching the ‘Champion Bumper’. A bumper is a flat race for jumps horses. The final race on Wednesday’s card at Cheltenham.

Do Say: I think all this watering of the course has changed things! It’s a great excuse if your fancy enjoys drying ground from the sun and wind, only to see the hoses and sprinklers go on overnight to get some artificial juice into the ground.

Don’t Say: I’ll back this odds-on favourite each-way. The place portion of an each-way bet is only going to return profit if your horse is around 5/1 or bigger. Don’t try to be clever and claim places on odds-on shots and short-priced selections that return pennies.

Do Say: Aren’t the jockeys tall! It’s a bit of a myth that jockeys are small, jump jockey’s ride at weights around 11 to 10 stone regularly so they are usually at least a foot taller than their counterparts from flat racing – who regularly ride horses at below 9 stone.

Don’t Say: Only one to jump and this has won! Cheltenham has a notoriously difficult uphill finish and tired legs sometimes catch out horses as they are about to come and win their race. No contest is over until they cross the line and a lot can change in the final few strides.

Do Say: Have the leaders go off too fast here? Because of the aforementioned uphill finish, you can get horses coming through the pack at the end of the race. So, after four fences it’s a good shout to suggest they might be going a bit too fast to last the pace – especially if you’ve spotted an outsider in front.

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