Apparently centenary celebrations will be in order at Cheltenham this week but it seems likely that, as usual, something notoriously transient will justify the bulk of the plentiful toasting done over the four days of the Festival.
Betting-ring solvency is a good enough excuse for most pilgrims to the captivating old arena in the Cotswolds to reach for a glass. In fact, so is penury but its onset can make combining proximity to the beaded bubbles winking at the brim with preservation of dignity a demanding exercise. The simplest solution is to back winners and after four-and-a-half decades of sorties into Gloucestershire my ability to be optimistic about the task is undiminished — and will remain so at least until the end of Tuesday’s action.
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The centrepiece of that afternoon, the Stan James Champion Hurdle, is the race that has been by far my most rewarding, thanks principally to the extraordinary feats of Istabraq a few years ago and the magnificently fluent success of Binocular last March. Tony McCoy warns that Binocular will have to rediscover every vestige of his best form to repel a notably impressive field of contenders. I won’t be deserting the champion but a covering bet on the unbeaten Peddlers Cross appears advisable. Also on that day, Ghizao will be the choice in the Irish Independent Arkle Novices’ Chase.
On Wednesday, So Young in the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle will be carrying my money, and in the RSA Novices’ Chase Time For Rupert, whose form is dazzling, will be one of my two bankers of the meeting. The other will be Big Buck’s in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle on Thursday, my final day at the track. Paul Nicholls, who trains Big Buck’s, says evens would be a massive price, so 6-4 will seem like a bonanza.
On Friday, while I watch on television, Join Together in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle will be parlaying earlier winnings into a major swelling in the hernia pocket.