I couldn’t see Binocular winning the Champion Hurdle. That spoiled an otherwise successful day.

Wednesday at Cheltenham is all about the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The Superbowl of two mile chasers, the classy horses. There have been some great champions over the years: Viking Flagship, Moscow Flyer. I particularly remember Remittance Man winning with half my grant on him! This year it seems destined to be the third victory for the current outstanding two mile chaser Master Minded. This is most punters’ banker of the festival and it’s hard to see past him if he makes it all the way round. I’ve heard a few shouts for Kalahari King (The Coach’s tip) but I think that people are looking for value against the strong favourite. I’ll be sticking with Master Minded

One of the punts of the week has been for Long Run in the Royal Sun Alliance Novice Chase (the 3rd). I backed him at 11/4 last week and he’s now in to 15/8. So at least I’m on the right side. But everyone I’ve spoken to thinks that Punchestown is a shoe-in. Long Run is a dodgy jumper but crashing through the hurdles doesn’t seem to affect his ability to power to the line. Punchestown dances over the hurdles like a ballerina but I just fancy Long Run will be too strong.

The first race of the day is a lottery. It’s the Amateur riders’ race and it’s a four mile chase. No idea!

The second race is a great betting race as it’s the 2 mile 5 furlong novice hurdle. It’s full of horses that have avoided the top novice race, the Supreme Novices won by Menorah yesterday (well done Coach!). The Insider “would like to see Peddler’s Cross do well”. Sounds like a tip to me. I’ve already had a tipple on Ghizao. I fancy that there will be a gamble on something in the morning as the betting is wide open for this one.

The same is true for the last three races, The Coral Cup (described by The Insider as a sponsored cavalry charge), a 4yo Novice Handicap Hurdle (go figure) and one of my favourite races, The Bumper. All these races are wide open so I’ll watch the betting and post any “tips” on Twitter

Good luck

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