THERE was no shortage of impressive performances at the weekend with a number of horses on both sides of the Irish Sea staking their claims for Cheltenham Festival success in March.
Leading the way was Newbury winner Native River. Colin Tizzard’s seven-year-old confirmed his Gold Cup credentials with a smart performance to land the Denman Chase.
The race has thrown up a number of Gold Cup winners in the past, including the likes of Coneygree, Kauto Star and Denman.
Ten per cent of all Cheltenham ante-post bets placed through leading odds comparison site Oddschecker over the weekend were for the Hennessy and Welsh National winner who is now a best-priced 9-2 for the big one in March.
Racegoers at Newbury on Saturday were also treated to some spectacular jumping from the hugely talented Altior who shortened for the Arkle Trophy off the back of his imperious success in the Game Spirit Chase.
Nicky Henderson's seven-year-old destroyed a field of more experienced rivals that included the second favourite for this year’s Champion Chase – Fox Norton.
Altior is now no bigger than 4-11 for the Arkle.
Another winner on the Newbury card was Nigel Twiston-Davies’ Ballyandy whose performance sparked almost five per cent of total ante-post bets through Oddschecker over the weekend.
A runner-up in the Champion Bumper at last year’s Festival, this horse arrived as a maiden over hurdles but showed his class in landing the competitive Betfair Hurdle.
Over in Ireland on Saturday, Carter McKay cruised to a facile success in the closing bumper on the Naas card to catapult himself to the top of the Champion Bumper market.
Disposing of his three rivals with consummate ease, the Willie Mullins’ trained six-year-old was slashed to as short as 3-1 with some firms (best price 4-1) and had Oddschecker users reaching for their digital betting slips and accounting for just under six per cent of all ante-post bets.
Sunday saw a number of Cheltenham hopefuls do battle at Leopardstown with winners Mega Fortune (4%), Disko (2%) and Bacardys (2%) all attracting support from Oddschecker punters, but it was Irish Gold Cup winner Sizing John who was the subject of most bets at just under seven per cent.
Jessica Harrington’s seven-year-old was running over three miles for the first time but despite his success on Sunday, connections were not fully convinced a crack at the Timico Gold Cup would suit their charge.
Oddschecker also spoke to top jockey Sam Twiston-Davies over the weekend who told us his Dark Horse at Cheltenham is Caid Du Berlais, currently a 20-1 chance, in the Pertemps Final.
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