Champion Hurdle Tips: 4:00pm Tuesday Predictions from Free Bets Team
The headline race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival is the Champion Hurdle and this year's renewal looks a fascinating race, made even more so by the late inclusion of Lossiemouth.
Nine runners go to post, and here we've got the view of our experts on Free Bets, giving you their big opinions and Champion Hurdle tips.
As ever on site, we've got some fantastic Cheltenham day 1 betting offers, including one that could land with a win in this particular race.
Champion Hurdle Tips
You'll want to know what our experts think before you head over to betting sites and place your bets on the big one.
We've got a team of four with us for the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, and they've all got a Champion Hurdle tip for you.
Paddy Brennan - Golden Ace
This has changed a lot in the last week with Lossiemouth being declared after it looked like she might go for the Mares Hurdle and you can see why she’s taking her chance here.
It’s probably a weak enough renewal of the race even though you have The New Lion and Brighterdaysahead but I want to stick with Golden Ace. She was a lucky winner last year and the Fighting Fifth but another effort like those races and she’ll be bang there.
Charlie McCann
I am surprised connections of The New Lion are not running a pacemaker, although Tutti Quanti and possibly Brighterdaysahead should ensure a decent test at the trip. At the time, I thought it was a vintage Turners Novice Hurdle that The New Lion won here twelve months ago, but that has not been the case, and it is potential rather than top-class 2m hurdle form that he takes into the race.
If he had stood up at Gosforth Park, we would have known more about his merits at two miles, given his fall two out, which came at a time when the race was just developing. I thought he hated having to lead – nearly ran out down the back straight – but would have beaten Golden Ace with talking horse Anzadam well held.
It promises to be a fascinating though hardly vintage Champion Hurdle.
Alan Kelly - Anzadam (EW)
I am going to take a chance on the third Willie Mullins’ contender, ANZADAM (Each-Way), as I'm convinced we haven't seen the best of the six-year-old so far this season. Despite pulling like a train when fourth behind Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead in the December Hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas, Anzadam was still beaten a little under 7 lengths.
Unable to land a blow in the Irish Champion Hurdle on heavy ground at the Dublin Racing Festival, I expect a much better performance from Patrick Mullins’ mount under today's livelier conditions in what looks to be a very open renewal of the championship contest.
Craig Jones - The New Lion
I've been a big believer in The New Lion and I can't leave him on his big day. For the first time this season, he'll have a race run to suit, a true two mile test, and we'll find out once and for all whether this is his trip or not. They went slow in the Fighting Fifth, and again in the International Hurdle, completely against him on both occasions, he fell in the first and won the second, scrambling over the line.
Here though, the pace will be strong, he'll have something to aim at and when they turn for home, if he's close enough, I certainly think he's good enough. Dan Skelton reports him to be in the best shape he's had him all season, which is a positive. But of course it's not time to deliver that on the track.
There's question marks over the rest, like there is for The New Lion. Lossiemouth with the trip, Brighterdaysahead with her Cheltenham form and Golden Ace for quality. I don't think it's vintage in terms of quality, but it could be an absolute classic renewal.
Champion Hurdle Racecard
We've got daily racecards on Free Bets throughout the year, and here's a look at the card for the Champion Hurdle.
Alongside the runners and riders, you'll also see the latest betting odds, pulled and updated all the time from a variety of bookmakers, so you can see how the market stands.
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