Experts' Best Bets: Cheltenham Festival Day 1 tips with Enda McElhinney
The Cheltenham Festival is a race meeting unmatched in terms of widespread popularity with racing and sports enthusiasts alike.
It begins on Tuesday afternoon with the Champion Hurdle (3.30) the feature race. We’re covering all angles at Cheltenham with help from the Racing Post and Enda McElhinney has the first of our daily Cheltenham Festival tips, with the best bets for day one. Throughout The Festival we’ll also have the latest free bets and special offers.
All prices quoted are with bet365, where new customers can claim up to £30 in free bets to use on Cheltenham Festival. You can also back our biggest tips of the day below, while the rest of our hand-picked accumulators are available over on our Cheltenham Festival tips page!
Cheltenham Festival 2024 Day 1 Experts’ Best Bets
1.30 – Supreme Novices’ Hurdle
Experts’ Best Bet: Slade Steel at 9/2
Firefox and Tullyhill may both want a piece of the lead and SLADE STEEL could be the one to pick them off for Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead late on. He’s 2-3 over hurdles and Ballyburn (red-hot favourite for Wednesday’s Cheltenham opener) is the only horse to beat him over a jump.
2.10 – Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase
Experts’ Best Bet: Found A Fifty at 11/2
Ireland appears to hold the aces in the Arkle. Gaelic Warrior was all at sea last month at the Dublin Racing Festival but his presence here could set this up for FOUND A FIFTY to be played late by Jack Kennedy en route to avenging a slender Irish Arkle defeat behind Il Etait Temps at Leopardstown five weeks ago.
2.50 – Ultima Handicap Chase
Experts’ Best Bet: Trelawne at 8/1
No Irish winner of this race since 2006 and while The Goffer and Stumptown are major players, Kim Bailey’s TRELAWNE has impressed in four starts this season. He won on chasing bow at Carlisle in November over 2m4f and has bumped into some quality operators since. He promises to see this trip out and can improve again for going up in distance.
3.30 – Champion Hurdle
Experts’ Best Bet: State Man at 1/3
With no Constitution Hill, a race that revolves around dual Irish Champion Hurdler STATE MAN, second in this 12 months ago and imperious since on home soil for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend. He’s impossible to oppose but priced accordingly. At a massive price, a big run from stablemate Zarak The Brave isn’t to be dismissed with favourable each-way terms after eight were declared.
4.10 – Mares’ Hurdle
Experts’ Best Bet: Love Envoi at 12/1
Lossiemouth will be hard to beat based on her Trials Day win in January but last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner is going into the unknown over this trip and LOVE ENVOI has a solid each-way chance having finished second to Honeysuckle in this race a year ago. She was no match for Lossiemouth in January but the longer trip and first-time cheekpieces should help Harry Fry’s mare make more of a fist of it up the hill.
4.50 – Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
Experts’ Best Bet: An Breadan Fasa at 33/1
Second in a Triumph Trial behind Burdett Road here in November, AN BREADAN FASA came back in December and won a similar event for Jack Jones and Tom Bellamy in good style on soft ground. Last month’s Scottish Triumph Hurdle fourth behind Liari was possibly the wrong track for him and now 6lb better off back here, the Camelot gelding is perhaps too easily forgotten at more than three times the price of the Paul Nicholls-trained runner.
5.30 – Maureen Mullins National Hunt Challenge Cup
Experts’ Best Bet: Corbetts Cross at 2/1
CORBETTS CROSS and Embassy Gardens dominate the market but the latter had a major blip in the Albert Bartlett here last March and that’s some worry. Emmet Mullins’ runner wouldn’t be out of place in a Grade 1 novice here this week and can stamp his class on this in the hands of top amateur Derek O’Connor.
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