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Cheltenham Confident of Racing This Weekend
07/12/10
National Hunt enthusiasts and irish racing pundits are desperate to see a proper resumption of action having reached the point where they find the prospect of another day’s all-weather racing about as attractive as Ann Widdicombe’s tango, writes Elliot Slater.
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We had a glimpse of the jumpers at Exeter over the weekend, but with many parts of the country set to return to freezing conditions, opportunities to enjoy the rough and tumble of the winter game are currently few and far between. It’s heartening then to learn that Cheltenham’s clerk of the course Simon Claisse, is highly optimistic that the racing scheduled for the coming Friday and Saturday will go ahead.
As well as the Vote AP Gold Cup and the International Hurdle, horse racing Ireland fans note that Cheltenham is set to step in and stage the postponed Tingle Creek Chase, the Grade 1 two-mile contest that fell victim to the weather last weekend when Sandown unfortunately failed to beat the Arctic freeze. Master Minded looks set to be the star turn having bounced back to something close to his best when trotting up in the Amlin 1965 Gold Cup at Ascot last month, although there does remain a nagging doubt that he is a few pounds less effective at Cheltenham, despite having twice won the Champion Chase at the festival meeting.
The International Hurdle promises to be an absolute cracker, with Menorah likely to be sent off favourite having impressed when winning the Greatwood Hurdle on his reappearance, whilst Paul Nicholls’ Silviniaco Conti looked special when scoring at Ascot last time. And then there’s last season’s Festival Bumper winner Cue Card, who has looked the real deal in his two outings so far over timber and could be anything.
Little Josh, who won the BetVictor Gold Cup a few weeks ago at the track, bids to follow up in the Vote AP Gold Cup, a race that looks tremendously competitive and will surely prove a grand spectacle. Let’s hope that dear Mr Claisse has judged the weather forecast right and we will indeed be able to sit back and enjoy a return to ‘real’ racing.
