No Hugh Taylor has given him as an antepost selection
Good spot.
"It’s quite a while since I’ve had an early dabble in the Cheltenham Festival ante-post markets, that sphere fraught with risks nowadays, but I was so impressed by
CHAMP’s performance at Newbury on Saturday that I’m willing to have a little interest on him for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle in March, even allowing for the difficulty in nominating Cheltenham targets at any stage of the season, let alone this early.
Making his seasonal debut off a mark of 139 in a really competitive class 2 handicap hurdle, he was keen in the early stages and eventually pulled his way to the front before halfway.
He continued to take a strong hold in the lead and it would have been no surprise had he dropped away tamely entering the straight, but he eased two or three lengths clear after the third last.
He was closed down by a couple of his rivals two out, but picked up again really well when asked for his effort and went right away from his rivals after the last.
His reported next target is the Challow Hurdle over 2m5f, and although there are several other possibilities for him if he makes it to Cheltenham, all his hurdles races have come at around 2m4f or 2m5f, and his natural exuberance probably means the Ballymore would seem a more natural target than the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
Having won readily by four and a half lengths with the field well strung out behind him, I’d expect him to be raised to a mark in the high 140s next week, possibly even pushing 150. The average official rating of the Ballymore winner going into the race over the last ten years was 150, and 154.6 after the race, so he looks to be already well into the territory of being a strong contender for the race, and he was clearly value for much more than the bare margin yesterday given how much energy he expended during the early part of the race.
Obviously I’d temper enthusiasm with the risks involved as already mentioned, but I thought Champ might attract single-figure quotes for the Ballymore given where he’s going to be in handicapping terms once reassessed, so I’m prepared to take the risk at this stage, but for those wanting to mitigate the risk, it’s worth noting that he’s also 12-1 with Ladbrokes and 10-1 with William Hill to win any race at the Cheltenham festival."
[h=4]Hugh's Best Bets (scale 1-5 points):[/h] [h=5]BALLYMORE NOVICES' HURDLE, CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2019[/h] 1pt win CHAMP (16-1 Ladbrokes, 14-1 general (20-1 Unibet))
Best price is 12/1 now.... wasn't really on my radar for the race beforehand but I'm not going to argue with Hugh:highly_amused:
