Ed Chamberlin tips up the final two days of the Cheltenham Festival and explains why he's favouring, amongst others, Vukovar, Bobs Worth and Thomas Edison...
Day Four
Bar the Gold Cup, I'm not normally too fussed about the Friday at the Festival. This year my mind will be firmly fixed on a potentially epic Super Sunday with Manchester United v Liverpool and Tottenham v Arsenal.
That said, day four looks brilliant this year and will go a long way to deciding if the Chamberlin family will have food on the table this weekend as there are plenty of decent betting opportunities.
The children are putting pressure on me to back
Broughton in the Triumph Hurdle as that is the name of our village. More importantly I'm told the top judge Michael Shinners was keen on his chance at the excellent preview night at Elland Road on Wednesday.
Activial made a big impression at Kempton, while the Nicholls team seem bullish about
Calipto who beat Activial at Newbury in November.
In the County Hurdle my old friend
Thomas Edison could line up. He put up one of the most eye-catching performances of the season at Down Royal in November. I then tipped him to win the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham, which he won - but as a loose horse after colliding with a caller at the fourth flight and depositing AP McCoy on the deck. Thomas Edison remains really well handicapped and badly due a change of luck.
The Albert Bartlett is set to be one of the races of the week with two high class novices going head to head. The race looks like a straight match between
Kings Palace and
Briar Hill. I'd be amazed if anything is good enough to match these two. It promises to be an epic battle as Kings Palace will be the hare and Ruby Walsh will stalk him on last year's Bumper winner and hope to pounce in the straight. If Tom Scudamore gets the pace right at the front Kings Palace's superior jumping could prove decisive as he should be a tough nut to crack up the hill. I've been harping on in this column about Kings Palace for weeks but will be having a saver on Briar Hill, who's likely to go off favourite, as the race looks like a match and he's a major threat.
Bobs Worth has done this column such a good turn at the last three Festivals that there's no way I'm deserting him in the Gold Cup. If he's in contention at the bottom of the hill, Bobs Worth will win again as no horse puts his head down and flies up the Cheltenham hill like him.
Caid du Berlais is another horse I have tipped here recently but let us down at Doncaster in a novice chase last time. Switched back to hurdles in the Martin Pipe Conditionals Handicap Hurdle he looks a very interesting runner and even more so after Paul Nicholls admitted to having backed him. He ran a blinder to finish second to Flaxen Flare in last year's Fred Winter so we know he relishes a contest like this and the extra half mile will definitely suit him.
Day Four selections: Thomas Edison, Kings Palace, Caid du Berlais
