How the big Cheltenham Festival races next week are shaping up

The Cheltenham Festival, highlight of the racing year, serving up the best Jumps action in the world, is less than a week away.

But foot and mouth sabotaged the meeting back in 2001, and worries that coronavirus could inflict a similar wipeout have been scarring the build-up to the 2020 Festival.

Should the number of cases escalate dramatically across the UK, government and health officials could well pull the plug on major events attracting large crowds in a bid to stifle the spread of the disease.

More than 260,000 people are hoping to flock from all corners of the UK and Ireland to the Cotswolds. They might be counting down the hours in excited anticipation, but they are also on tenterhooks.

Hopes were raised this week by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s insistence that “it’s business as usual”, and, as things stand, the show will go on. So, it’s an opportune time to assess how the big five faces of the Festival are shaping up.

MAGNERS CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP (Day 4, Friday)

For the second season running, the showpiece race of the week looks sure to be graced by a terrific, competitive field. Last season’s surprise winner, AL BOUM PHOTO, who broke master trainer Willie Mullins’s Gold Cup duck, heads the market and he arrives at Prestbury Park on the back of an identical preparation to 2019.

It’s very rare for horses to land the race two years on the trot, and Mullins’s 8yo faces serious opposition from representatives of last season’s impressive novice contingent. Both SANTINI, trained by Nicky Henderson, and DELTA WORK, from the yard of Gordon Elliott, featured in a thrilling finish to a top-class RSA Chase at the 2019 Festival. Both were edged out by Topofthegame and although Paul Nicholls’s charge has missed this season because of injury, LOSTINTRANSLATION, the horse who claimed his scalp at Aintree last term, three weeks after Cheltenham, will line up next week. Santini, whose profile and running style has Gold Cup written all over him, and the classy Delta Work go into the race in peak form, while Colin Tizzard’s Lostintranslation must put behind him a shoddy effort in the King George at Christmas which led to him being booked in for wind surgery.

In the absence of Topofthegame, Nicholls again relies on the smooth winner of that King George, CLAN DES OBEAUX. He palpably failed to stay in last year’s race, but his trainer insists he will be stronger and fresher this time round.

Mullins also saddles KEMBOY, who came down at the first last year but recovered for spectacular victories at Aintree, where he crushed Clan Des Obeaux, and Punchestown, where he beat Al Boum Photo. And two more notable Irish raiders are PRESENTING PERCY, superb winner of the RSA two years ago, and MONALEE, who has always looked the type to meet the demands of the Gold Cup but who was pitched into the wrong race at last year’s Festival.

Monalee is trained by Henry De Bromhead, whose flag might also be flown by lively, progressive outsider CHRIS’S DREAM, while the admirable and resilient grey BRISTOL DE MAI, third last year, should not be discounted either. Both would prefer the mud to be flying.

UNIBET CHAMPION HURDLE (Day 1, Tuesday)

The word ‘poor’ is wildly overused by pundits and analysts, particularly in football. But make no mistake, this is a poor Champion Hurdle. Indeed, very possibly the worst I have witnessed in 36 years of Cheltenham Festival pilgrimages.

The contest could yet be rescued by the brilliant Irish-trained duo HONEYSUCKLE and BENIE DES DIEUX but, sadly, their first-choice targets appear to be the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle, scheduled for 40 minutes after the Champion.

Ironically, in their absence, it is another mare, EPATANTE, trained by Nicky Henderson and owned at JP McManus, that lines up as favourite. The 6yo is improving at a rate of knots and won the Grade One Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day with polished authority. But she bombed at the Festival last year, and recent stable reports of her coughing have scared her supporters.

Her main rival is one of four other runners from the Henderson yard, PENTLAND HILLS, winner of a weak Triumph Hurdle 12 months ago, but turned over in both of his engagements this term when he raced too keenly and finished tamely. Against both him and Triumph runner-up COEUR SUBLIME is that only two 5yos, from the last 102 to have tried, have been crowned champion. Mind you, one of those was the 2019 winner, the ill-fated Espoir D’Allen, one of whose placed victims, SILVER STREAK, is back for another crack at the race.

At the other end of the age scale, some fancy the 10yo veteran SUPASUNDAE to rediscover the pace that landed him the Irish Champion Hurdle two years ago, while there is even a whisper for novice DARVER STAR, such is the openness of the contest.

Henderson’s other challengers include VERDANA BLUE, who is unlikely to get the Good ground she needs, and CALL ME LORD, who won nicely at Cheltenham in December to disprove previous theories that he is effective only on right-hand tracks. The Good-ground reservations also apply to SHARJAH, the main hope from the Willie Mullins yard.

BETWAY QUEEN MOTHER CHAMPION CHASE (Day 2, Wednesday)

There won’t be many runners, but the Queen Mother could yet serve up the race of the week, courtesy of a fascinating clash involving reigning champion ALTIOR, the 2m chaser of the season DEFI DU SEUIL and the exciting, new kid on the block, CHACUN POUR SOI.

Altior would bring the house down if he landed the race for the third year running, emulating the mighty Badsworth Boy from the 1980s. Trainer Nicky Henderson flirted with a step-up in trip, which resulted in his first defeat in 20 starts in November. But after a break, he looked back to his best last time and has yet to be beaten at Cheltenham.