Shishkin bids to give favourite backers the edge on day two of the Cheltenham Festival.
The Champion Chase (3.30) favourite has starred for trainer Nicky Henderson, winning twice previously at the meeting. He lines up in the feature with one success for his name over key market rival Energumene. Stablemate Chacun Pour Soi and Nube Negra are others in the mix for the two-mile championship event.
Over 60,000 people will be at the track for Ladies Day to cheer the horses on. Ireland dominated the meeting a year ago and they will be hoping to back this up on the back of their Six Nations triumph over the home nation. The atmosphere is building for racegoers, who missed out last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Here are the horses our top tipster has picked out for every race on Wednesday. Good luck!
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1.30
NEWSBOY'S 1-2-3
1 SIR GERHARD
2 STAGE STAR
3 I AM MAXIMUS
SIR GERHARD is sure to go off at prohibitive odds - but it is hard to see past him.
Successful from stablemate Kilcruit in the Champion Bumper 12 months ago, the Willie Mullins-trained son of Jeremy finished third to the same horse at Punchestown, but has been imperious in two attempts over hurdles this winter.
Sir Gerhard was sent off the 2-9 favourite for a maiden hurdle at Leopardstown on Boxing Day and wasn’t extended to come home in front by eight lengths.
Mullins then returned the seven-year-old to Foxrock for the Dublin Racing Festival’s Grade 1 two-mile novice hurdle, and Paul Townend’s partner overcame some scruffy jumping to come home six lengths to the good of Three Stripe Life.
The step up to two miles is unlikely to stretch my selection’s stamina and, with the extra yardage an aid to ironing the creases in his hurdling, Sir Gerhard - running here in preference to yesterday’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle - is expected to remain unbeaten over obstacles.
Stage Star is already a high achiever in the hands of Paul Nicholls - he gained an emphatic triumph in the top-level Challow Hurdle at Newbury on his most recent start - and the Ditcheat representative is feared most, ahead of I Am Maximus and Journey With Me.
2.10
NEWSBOY'S 1-2-3
1 BRAVEMANSGAME
2 AHOY SENOR
3 FURY ROAD
BRAVEMANSGAME is expected to defend his unbeaten record - currently standing at 4-4 - over fences.
Podium finishes at Cheltenham and Aintree last spring marked the end of the seven-year-old’s career over hurdles.
Paul Nicholls, who once compared Bravemansgame with 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Denman, then sent the French-bred gelding over fences - with impressive results.
My selection started off in an intermediate chase at Newbon Abbot in October, beating Fusil Raffles by five and a half lengths, and followed up from Itchy Feet, winner of the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown Park in 2020, in a graduation event at Haydock Park the following month.
Bravemansgame stepped up to the top level for Kempton Park’s Kauto Star Novices’ Chase on Boxing Day and jumped with panache in beating a below-par Ahoy Senor by seven and a half lengths.
And the Ditcheat runner warmed up for today by carrying top weight to victory in a novices’ handicap chase at Newbury last month.
There is something thoroughly admirable about the way Harry Cobden’s mount gets things done and he hasn’t finished yet - not by a long chalk.
Ahoy Senor has since captured the Grade 2 Towton Novices' Chase Wetherby and isn’t written off, while unbeaten chaser L’Homme Presse and top-level scorer Fury Road are others with a role to play.
2.50
NEWSBOY'S 1-2-3
1 DROP THE ANCHOR
2 THE SHUNTER
3 INDIGO BREEZE
DROP THE ANCHOR caught the eye with a strong finish at Leopardstown last month and makes appeal in a wide-open race.
Pat Fahy’s son of Shantou has already shown his mettle in big-field handicaps, lifting a valuable two-mile contest for jockey Simon Torrens at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival in February of last year..
The JP McManus-owned eight-year-old is without a win in four starts over obstacles since, but wasn’t beaten far when seventh in the County Hurdle here 12 months ago.
Although down the field at Punchestown - and when ninth to Tritonic in a big-money event at Ascot a week before Christmas - Drop The Anchor showed definite green shoots in south Dublin last time out.
Again ridden by Torrens, who claims a valuable 3lb here, my selection came home with gusto to take fifth, beaten just over 10 lengths, to Call Me Lyreen.
His three hurdles wins have been over two miles, but Drop The Anchor is well worth this return to further and a good account is on the cards.
The Coral Cup shortlist is invariably a long one, with The Shunter, Unexpected Party, Indigo Breeze and Ashdale Bob just four horses worth a second look.
3.30
NEWSBOY'S 1-2-3
1 CHACUN POUR SOI
2 SHISHKIN
3 FUNAMBULE SIVOLA
CHACUN POUR SOI has flopped on his previous two visits to Britain - but gets the vote to make it third time lucky and gatecrash the Shishkin-Energumene reunion party.
Twelve months ago, punters made Willie Mullins’ 10-year-old the 8-13 favourite to mark his first appearance on this shores with success in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
But Chacun Pour Soi ran below market expectations in third behind Put The Kettle On and Nube Negra, and it was a similar story at the same odds when he trailed in last of five behind Greaneteen in the top-level Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown Park in December.
But those runs are no reflection whatsoever of Chacun Pour Soi’s ability - as he showed when powering home by 12 lengths to rack up a hat-trick in the Dublin Chase at Leopardstown last month.
After that win, Mullins unveiled his theory that Chacun Pour Soi crossing the Irish Sea unusually taxing, and resolved to leave the horse one gallop short of fitness before his departure from Closutton.
It’s an ambitious plan, but Mullins hasn’t won 15 trainers' titles in his homeland by accident, and it’s worth taking the chance at the prevailing odds that it comes off.
Shishkin got the better of my selection's stablemate Energumene in a thriller for the Clarence House Chase at Ascot in January and the view that Cheltenham’s left-handed layout and stiff uphill finish will help him stay on top is a persuasive one.
Of the outsiders, Politologue won this two years ago but is performing below that level these days, and Envoi Allen has long since lost his aura of invincibility.
Those seeking to play at more remunerative odds could do worse than Funambule Sivola. Venetia Williams’ seven-year-old has it to do on the ratings, but is heading in the right direction and still looks capable of building on the form that saw him lift Newbury’s Grade 2 Game Spirit Chase last time out.
4.10
NEWSBOY'S 1-2-3
1 TIGER ROLL
2 DELTA WORK
3 BACK ON THE LASH
TIGER ROLL, in what has been advertised as his career valediction, is in the right place to go out in a blaze of glory.
In recent years, too many column inches have been devoted to owner Michael O’Leary’s multiple beefs over the little hero’s Grand National weight.
But that must not detract from the fact the Gordon Elliott trainee has been the most popular National Hunt horse of the past decade, with two Aintree triumphs and no fewer than five Cheltenham Festival victories on his CV.
Three of those have been in this race, including an 18-length humbling of Easysland 12 months ago.
That performance came on the back of a couple of uninspiring efforts - a resurgence Elliott attributes to Tiger Roll’s effectiveness over Cheltenham’s banks and hedges, and a preference for spring ground.
It has been a similar story this winter as Tiger Roll pulled up behind Cheltenham Gold Cup hope Protektorat at Aintree in December and ran down the field in a Navan handicap hurdle in January.
But Cheltenham is his stage and, with old ally Davy Russell in the plate for the final act, Tiger Roll is expected to bring the house down.
Stable-companion Delta Work is a class act over regulation fences and, reported to have taken like a duck to water to his new discipline, rates a threat, ahead of Shady Operator and Back On The Lash.
4.50
NEWSBOY'S 1-2-3
1 AMARILLO SKY
2 BUDDY RICH
3 BEFORE MIDNIGHT
AMARILLO SKY is on an upward curve and is fancied to rack up his fourth - and most significant - prize of a fruitful campaign.
Successful over hurdles back in May, the Colin Tizzard-saddled son of Westerner was sent over fences in November and hit the ground running with a length-and-a-half novice handicap chase score from Thyme White at Wincanton.
Second in the same sphere at Ascot eight days before Christmas, Amarillo Sky was travelling with ominous ease when departing at the second-last at Newbury in mid-January.
But Brendan Powell's mount made handsome amends at the Berkshire course last time, sprinting clear on the final to the final obstacle to beat Shakem Up’Arry by 10 lengths.
Under the circumstances, an 8lb rise in the weights was to be expected and Amarillo Sky has plenty of as-yet untapped potential to draw upon.
The Gordon Elliott pair Andy Dufresne and Buddy Rich have been well backed for this test and must enter calculations, while Before Midnight and dual Cheltenham winner Editeur Du Gite are others to throw into the melting pot.
5.30
NEWSBOY'S 1-2-3
1 AMERICAN MIKE
2 FACILE VEGA
3 JAMES’S GATE
AMERICAN MIKE has won both his starts under Rules in impressive fashion - and has plenty more to offer.
Successful on his sole start in a point-to-point, at Cork last April, by 20 lengths, the son of Mahler went under the hammer for £195,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham sales 13 days later.
Put into training with Gordon Elliott, American Mike was sent off at 4-7 for a bumper at Down Royal’s Champion Chase undercard last October.
And he didn’t disappoint his backers, cantering clear to beat Royal Romeo by seven lengths.
My selection’s sights were then raised to Listed level at Navan a week before Christmas, and American Mike hardly came out of second gear to justify odds of 1-8 by 17 lengths from Battling Bessie.
The runner-up then gave the form a boost when going within a nose of victory in the Grade 2 mares’ bumper at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival last month, and Jamie Codd’s mount has the untapped potential to move up to the top level and stay unbeaten.
Willie Mullins, throws no fewer than seven darts at the board in his quest for a 12th victory in this race, with Facile Vega, Redemption Bay and James’s Gate the trio who appeal most of all.
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