Cheltenham Countdown: The Trend Horses

The key races at the Cheltenham Festival have key trends developing, so in this installment of my Cheltenham Countdown I am going to break it down so that our shortlist of horses will meet the criteria that the trends match. Here, I have handpicked a selection of races – I have purposely gone away from the big Championship events.

Cheltenham Countdown: Dark Horses

Champagne Fever – A Willie Mullins bumper horse. 'Enough said', I hear you say. Always well regarded after his Point to Point win, he finished second to Thomas Eddison (subsequently bought by JP Mcmanus) at Leopardstown over Christmas. Since then, he bolted up at Fairyhouse. Heading the betting for the Bumper at 10/1, he could go off a lot shorter on the day.

Cheltenham Countdown

So here we are, seven weeks to the Festival – the holy grail for jump racing enthusiasts. Have we a clearer picture of which horses will turn up in their respective races? Mostly.

Hurricane Fly (the 2011 Champion Hurdle winner) still has a cloud hanging over him, is currently the 2/1 favorite for the big one. The price is based on last year’s form as he has nothing to show this year as of yet. Willie Mullins gave a positive bulletin at the turn of the 2012 and his favorite for the Irish Champion on Sunday. Watch this space!

Trip Handicapping

Trip handicapping is a specialized form of trying to pick the potential winner from the past performances. The race review is typically done on each contestant in an upcoming race with most of the attention on their last race, but can go back two or three or more races back. Many handicappers look for a horse that had "trouble" in his last race; bumped, steadied, broke in air and stuff like that. The trip handicapper goes much deeper than that, looking for specifics into the running of that last race, and what exactly happened all the way through the race. This would be from the opening bell all the way through the finish line and the gallop out after the race.

The Sprinter, Stayer & Jumper- Typical Traits

Sprinters typically jump from the gates running, will often appear to be traveling well during a race, can show a turn of foot off a slow pace, but can die quickly and stop as if shot over the final stages of a race. Alternately a stayer will take time to find it stride from the gates, may appear to be struggling mid race, but will keep on coming over the concluding stages. This article briefly looks are their typical conformation traits that add to their speed and endurance, and attempts to explain them.

Samantha Miss Focuses on Victoria Oaks

The Melbourne Cup Carnival, or Spring Festival, is being hosted by Flemington Racecourse this year, and one of the most popular races featured during this time, is the Victoria Oaks. It takes place on the 6th of November 2008 and is run over a distance of 2,500 meters. The Victoria Oaks is a racing event for three year old fillies, and trainer Kris Lees has confirmed that Samantha Miss will be in the lineup for the race. With a purse of $1 million, this Grade 1 race has drawn a lot of attention, and Samantha Miss will be up against a tough competitor field.

Askar Tau – Cesarewitch favorite

The Cesarewitch Handicap was first known as the Tsesarevich, named after the Crown Prince of Russia, in honor of his visit to the United Kingdom, and was inaugurated in 1839. Today, the Cesarewitch Handicap is still run at the Newmarket Racecourse, over a grueling distance of just over two miles, and will take place on Saturday, 18 October 2008. It is a flat horse racing event for three year old horses and over, and the course is fairly straight, due to the distance of the race. This year, one of the favorites for this popular race, is Askar Tau.

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