Cheltenham Festival 2024 best bets for Wednesday
The second day of Cheltenham Festival 2024 is shaping up to be a huge one with more Grade 1 contests, big fields and the best jumps horses around.
Wednesday sees Grade 1 races: Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdle, Brown Advisory, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Champion Bumper star alongside the Class 2 Cross Country Glenfarclas Chase.
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Cheltenham Festival 2024 Wednesday tips
- : Ballyburn 4/7 (2pts)
- : Stay Away Fay 10/3 (2pts)
- Sa Majeste 5/1 & Jigoro 16/1 each-way (1pt)
- : El Fabiolo 1/1 (now 8/15) (3pts)
- Triple Trade 28/1 EW & Solness 18/1 EW (1pt)
- Fleur Au Fusil 16/1 & You Oughta Know 11/1 EW (1pt)
Tom Lunn's Boosted Treble
- Ballyburn, Stay Away Fay, El Fabiolo all to win -
Ballyburn
All signs point towards a day for the short-priced favourites at least for a handful of the seven races. But Ballyburn is almost definitely one to look out for.
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He was only beaten by Firefox in a maiden in December before stamping his authority over hurdles next time out with a huge win at Leopardstown later that month.
Then on reappearance in February, back down to 2m, he beat Slade Steel by seven lengths, who has around a 7/2 shot for the Supreme on the opener on Tuesday.
Instead of going for the Supreme the consensus was clearly to aim him for the 2m5f where he clearly seemed well suited to at Leopardstown when beating Cleatus Poolaw by 25 lengths at 2m4f.
He's posted some strong figures in the sectionals over 2m and has the staying power over two and a half to make him the strong favourite for the Gallaghers, briefly known as the Baring Bingham.
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It should be another big win for trainer Willie Mullins who could make it three or four wins by the time the opener on Wednesday comes home.
Stay Away Fay
The odds suggest Fact To File is the one to beat here and though it's tempting it's very hard to really see how strong he is over fences based on his two wins and one second place finish when chasing this season.
He beat Zanahiyr by 17 lengths at Leopardstown in the Christmas Festival and then in a match with Gaelic Warrior was left alone when clear in front at 6/4.
He's being upped to 3m for the first time and for 10/11 you'd usually hope for a bit of confirmation that he stays.
Whereas, Stay Away Fay does stay - for trainer Paul Nicholls and under Harry Cobden.
Stay Away Fay was only beaten by Capodanno and The Real Whacker here over 3m1f in January for the Grade 2 Cotswold Chase and on paper he did well to go close to those higher rated Grade 1 regulars.
He's been consistent over 3m across his hurdling and now his chasing career, so really shouldn't be discounted at a nice price for one of the very few British winners.
Interestingly, they're trying the first-time tongue tie and cheekpieces for this race and that just may help him make this a stamina test for Fact To File.
Tom Lunn's Racing Tips Profit + Loss
- Cheltenham: +8.6pts
- October-Present: +140.07pts
- Total from July 2023: +213.44pts
Sa Majeste & Jigoro
The Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle is always wide open and ripe for taking a huge each-way price if finding the winner.
The last seven winners have seen odds of 9/1, 50/1, 33/1, 5/1, 28/1, 20/1, and 16/1.
The trends don't really help when looking at such a wide open race with 20+ runners either, especially as each renewal comes with its own complexities and context.
This is also a Premier Handicap, meaning the weight the horses carry are proportionate to their rating, which gives even the lower rated horses a chance to win.
However, there's often a fine line as those rated that much lower and therefore are considered 'those that are just 'out of the handicap' won't be able to keep up with the level on show even if carrying much less.
Sa Majeste is incredibly appealing based on his latest run which saw him beat Noble Yeats, which would put him at a very handy mark to cruise to win here.
You'd have to follow Willie Mullins again while also playing it safe and going for another each-way play with Jigoro, who's also unexposed for trainer Gordon Elliott.
El Fabiolo
Can Mullins make this a Wednesday to remember at Cheltenham Festival, with three Grade 1 winners in quick succession?
Well El Fabiolo could be that treble winner in the feature race.
It's El Fabiolo vs Jonbon again after they faced off in the Arkle last year and it's going to be a great renewal of the Queen Mother.
The Mullins-trained horse came out on top to Nicky Henderson's star last year winning by over five lengths and he's continued to be unbeaten over fences at Punchestown and Cork in Grade meetings.
Jonbon did look better than ever this year until his disappointing second by a neck to Elixir De Nutz.
Now El Fabiolo is a huge odds-on price after his win at the Dublin Racing Festival, going from a strong even money favourite to halving his odds in a matter of a week.
- El Fabiolo 2/5
- Jonbon 3/1
- Edwardstone 6/1
- Captain Guinness 16/1
- Elixir De Nutz 20/1
Triple Trade & Solness
Triple Trade really appeals as a big priced each-way contender at 28/1.
He's been off for a couple months after something was quite right at Lingfield last time out.
But beat Harper's Brook at 9/4 at Ascot in December - who is among the favourites to win this so perhaps shouldn't be 28/1.
And he's weighted to keep that up too with Harper's Brook now carrying more than Triple Trade who was rated higher on their last encounter with each other.
Harper's Brook has since gone on to win really well ahead of Sacre Coeur which gives them both a strong chance in this Premier Handicap, but he's had a terrible run of things at Cheltenham.
Solness is also a fantastic price for a trainer in great form, Joseph Patrick O'Brien.
He placed just third when running on well behind Madara last time out at Leopardstown and that horse has been upped 10lb while Solness has been bumped up just 1lb.
Solness was carrying top weight that day and made a couple of mistakes in the lead up to the run in which certainly cost a few lengths.
That and the weight differential should see this horse do well around Cheltenham.
He's been very consistent in tough listed and Graded races throughout. Should go close.
Fleur Au Fusil & You Oughta Know
This is a strange renewal of the Champion Bumper as it is just that open.
There's usually a few big favourites or contenders that have shown real promise but this year there's a minimum price of around 11/2 for the two joint favourites.
Recent winners for instance are: A Dream To Share 7/2, Facile Vega 15/8 and Sir Gerhard 85/40 - whereas this year the prices start at around 6/1.
And it's tricky to find just one fancy in this and as such, should be small stakes for the two horses that stand a great chance each-way.
The first is You Oughta Know, trained by Willie Mullins in the first-time hood which should help Danny Mullins contain the six-year-old, who does have great form lines on par with the favourite.
He placed just behind Jeroboam Machin after 181 days off, so could have needed the run, but it was a great effort in the Grade 2 bumper at Leopardstown even placing ahead of Redemption Day while carrying top-weight.
Fleur Au Fusil is translated to Flower With Gun, and this mare, carrying 7lb less than her gelding and horse rivals, could be a big threat under Miss J Townend having won with the same jockey on board at Leopardstown in a Grade 2 mares' bumper last month.
Beating Switch From Diesel by over two lengths; that horse was also behind Jalon D'oudairies in December so stands to reason Fleur is overpriced.
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All odds correct at time of writing
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