Nice Spare For Champ At Cheltenham

Cheltenham is back on our screens and as we try to fill the coffers before Christmas we look at two bets at the Cotswolds.

Williams Goes For Gold
The second, third, fourth and fifth from the BetVictor Gold Cup last month all run in the £100,000 Caspian Caviar Gold Cup on Saturday and it was the fifth placed Bouvreuil who was the most popular in the betting this week.

Being just a five-year-old, the Paul Nicholls trained gelding is obviously opened to plenty of improvement and you could pretty much throw a blanket over those finishing behind Taquin Du Seuil here in the BetVictor Gold Cup so Bouvreuil cannot be ignored.

However, a chance is taken with Aso to come out on top this time.

Venetia Williams won this race two years ago and hopefully has the right horse on her hands to oblige again.

Aso was fourth, beaten five and a quarter lengths in the aforementioned Cheltenham race last month but a mistake at the second last fence would have proved costly. He may not have beaten the winner but he certainly would have lost some momentum and Aso looks value at 8/1.

Having won the Grade One Ryanair Chase at Fairyhouse last month, Kylemore Lough was a horse that I mulled long and hard over. Kerry Lee’s charge is well up to running a big race and may prove very well handicapped so is a big danger but a chance is taken that Aso will come out on top.

Nice Spare For The Champ
In the papers this morning the name of Ryan Hatch will be beside The New One in the racecards for Cheltenham’s International Hurdle but a fall at Cheltenham on Friday has left him sidelined and Richard Johnson will now come in for the plum spare ride on the eight-year-old.

My Tent Or Yours is the favourite and that’s understandable if he can repeat his form from last March when he was only four and a half lengths off Annie Power on his first start in almost two-years. But The New One is picked to get the better of him at odds of 3/1.

The New One was due to go over fences this season and was declared to do so only to miss out due to the weather.

And while that plan has yet to be shelved for this season, an impressive win in this race may have connections thinking of staying over hurdles again.

The New One was a couple of places behind My Tent Or Yours last season in the Champion Hurdle and fell when taking on Annie Power again at Aintree but over the years his hurdling form has been fairly solid and hopefully he can recapture that for this Grade Two assignment.

Recommended Bets:
Aso – 1.50 Cheltenham
The New One – 3.00 Cheltenham

*Prices correct at time of publication.