After an excellent day yesterday – I don’t think we’ll ever forget having Binocular win, and Zaynar to place (both tipped each-way) and beating the short priced favourite in the Champion Hurdle – Tony McCoy produced the perfect ride on a worthy champ, proving that the greatest jockey has exactly what it takes on the big occasion.

We have another day full of Cheltenham Festival 2010 free tips for you to enjoy.

You should all be well in front from the Tuesday Festival tips, because we followed that epic Champion Hurdle up with a stonking 37-1 Exacta in the mares hurdle to round the day off nicely.

Select your race from the list below to jump straight to our ratings table and tips – though please remember that we do not recommend these Cheltenham Festival tips as part of our usual strategy – they are outside of that for all those of us who love the Festival, and want to have a small bet on each race!

1. 1:30pm – 140th Year of The National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup (Amateur Riders´ Novices´ Chase) – 4m
2. 2:05 – Neptune Investment Management Novices´ Hurdle – 2m5f
3. 2:40 – RSA Chase – 3m110y
4. 3:20 – Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase – 2m
5. 4:00 – Coral Cup (Handicap Hurdle) – 2m5f
6. 4:40 – Fred Winter Juvenile Novices´ Handicap Hurdle – 2m110y
7. 5:15 – Weatherbys Champion Bumper (Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race) – 2m110y

1:30pm – 140th Year of The National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup (Amateur Riders´ Novices´ Chase) – 4m

This big amateur riders race is always a tricky race to judge, not least because of the different riders and claims they take off usually leveling up the field somewhat. We saw in the big cross country race yesterday what a difference a good 7 lb claim can make to a race over a long trip such as this grueling undulating 4 miles. Below are Systemlays’ ratings, and the best odds (the night before the race).

Systemlays Runners, Form, Ratings and Best Odds for the National Hunt Chase:



National Hunt Chase Tips and Ratings Review

As our ratings would indicate, this year’s renewal is going to be a difficult race to call in advance, with any from the top half of our ratings looking good enough to lift this race. We like the form of a good number of these, so don’t discount an each-way chance for each of our top five in the ratings, GENTLE RANGER, FAR MORE SERIOUS, ABBEYBRANEY, PENNEK and the likely favourite, MASSASOIT. Of those at the other end, we think that PETTIFOUR has little in its favour under these conditions and we’ll be looking to lay this on Betfair.

Who to Back

It is fairly uninspired to tip five horses to back each-way, but that’s just what we’re doing – try to get 4 places Totesport and Bet365 are both offering 4 places (despite this not being a handicap) so we suggest one of those two bookies for this bet – and split your usual stake between all of them (so tiny amounts here!). GENTLE RANGER, FAR MORE SERIOUS, ABBEYBRANEY, PENNEK and MASSASOIT get the nod from us, and, with 33/1 available, you could make a couple of scores for a pound each-way. Save your big guns for opportunities later in the day.

Who to Lay

Offer PETTIFOUR under 20.0 (currently around 12.5 on Betfair) and risk your usual maximum liability on this one.

2:05 – Neptune Investment Management Novices´ Hurdle – 2m5f

Now we return to the youngsters with this novice hurdle that is always hotly contested at level weights.

Novices Hurdle Runners, Form, Ratings and Best Odds:

Novices Hurdle Tips and Ratings Review

Straight off the bat we can say that RITE OF PASSAGE is a short price based upon our ratings that you may well want to consider laying if you can get under 5.0 on Betfair and that these top three look like they will take a lot of beating. The market prefers QUEL ESPRIT, though we put REVE DE SIVOLA and PEDDLERS CROSS marginally in front of this anticipated favourite. We’d recommend backing all three to make the frame, though perhaps QUEL ESPRIT will be too short for an each-way bet, so half your stake and back that one to win only. That said, there is quality throughout this field and it is never a huge surprise when a horse improves dramatically in juvenile events such as these, so you don’t want to be investing too much into these sort of races.

An Exacta or wheeled Trifecta with Totesport on these three could land another high payout for us too for low stakes so consider one of those bets if you only want to put 5 or 6 pounds into this race.

Who to Back

Place small each-way bets and consider a reverse forecast or trifecta on the following three horses:REVE DE SIVOLA, PEDDLERS CROSS and QUEL ESPRIT.

Who to Lay

We’d recommend a small lay of Rite of Passage in this race, but only for half of your usual maximum liability or less as improvement may be within this horse – however, on the clock, we place it behind a number of horses in this field. Get a price of 5.0 or better on Betfair at present.

2:40 – RSA Chase – 3m110y

The RSA Chase is yet another high grade testing race over a stiff extended three miles here in the Cheltenham Festival.

RSA Chase Runners, Form, Ratings and Best Odds:

RSA Chase Tips and Ratings Review

This is probably the closest this particular race has been for several years in terms of our ratings: it is very difficult to split the top five based upon our ratings – and that is half the field! We recommend yet another small stakes approach as a result.

Who to Back

Take our top two rated horses, CITIZEN VICE and WEAPON’S AMNESTY  and dutch them each-way. You might also consider a small reverse forecast on the two as well.

Who to Lay

Risk 50% of your usual max liability on LONG RUN to see if we can get another Cheltenham Festival 2010 favourite beaten.

3:20 – Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase – 2m

The flagship race of day two of Cheltenham Festival 2010 is the Queen Mother Chase, which is another speedy chase over the minimum distance.

Queen Mother Chase Runners, Form, Ratings and Best Odds:

Queen Mother Chase Tips and Ratings Review

This is the best opportunity to land a winner we have yet seen in this year’s Festival, with the odds-on MASTER MINDED a long way clear of the field based on our ratings. Second favourite KALAHARI KING is in turn well clear of FORPADYDEPLASTERER. We suggest MASTER MINDED as a maximum bet to win.

Who to Back

Back MASTER MINDED to win for your usual maximum stake

Who to Lay

Lay BIG ZEB in the Betfair win only market.

4:00 – Coral Cup (Handicap Hurdle) – 2m5f

Another huge field handicap hurdle, this time over 2 miles and 5 furlongs sees 28 runners line up for the 2010 Coral Cup.

Coral Cup Runners, Form, Ratings and Best Odds:

Coral Cup Tips and Ratings Review
With such a large field meaning that a number of bookmakers will give 5 places for each-way terms (Boylesports are paying 5 places 1/4 the odds), we recommend a decent each-way bet on each of our top three rated selections: CITY THEATRE, BALLYVOILE and GOLD AWARD who all come out well at these weights based upon their recent best performances under similar conditions. Conversely, however, the interestingly named favourite QUANTITATIVEEASING looks to have a difficult task to beat all 27 rivals carrying 11 stone around Cheltenham: a lay for us.

Who to Back

Back CITY THEATRE, BALLYVOILE and GOLD AWARD each way at the best price you can get – take 5 places with Boylesports if the price is right.

Who to Lay

Lay QUANITITATIVEEASING in the win only market on Betfair for your ordinary max liability.

4:40 – Fred Winter Juvenile Novices´ Handicap Hurdle – 2m110y

Another novices hurdle – the third of the Festival – in this race, but it is the first handicap, which allows us to come into our own seeing who has been weighted the most leniently or harshly by the handicapper for this competitive event.

Fred Winter Juvenile Runners, Form, Ratings and Best Odds:

Fred Winter Juvenile Tips and Ratings Review

Please note that Bet365 and Sky Bet are paying 1/4 the odds on 1,2,3,4 and 5 in this race for each-way backers – for this reason we recommend the two top horses we have in our ratings, CAUSEWAY KING and FIN VIN DE LEU both of which are 28/1 on Bet365, making them better than 6/1 to make the top 5 places each. Dutch the two horses each-way and you’ll return a profit if just one of them makes the frame: a winner would see triple figures from any bet of £5 each-way or more returned. We think SANCTUAIRE represents a good laying opportunity too, despite this being a closely packed handicap, as the weights and its best recent performances suggest a win is unlikely here.

What to Back

Place a reasonable amount each-way on both CAUSEWAY KING and FIN VIN DE LEU – both at 28-1 with Bet365 who are paying 5 places

What to Lay

Lay to lose your usual maximum liability on SANCTUAIRE

5:15 – Weatherbys Champion Bumper (Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race) – 2m110y

The last race of day two of the 2010 Festival is the Champion Bumper. This is the National Hunt Flat race where they uproot the hurdles and don’t jump a twig. This race often sees some stars of tomorrow competing, and is sometimes a little difficult to assess in advance due to the fact that the horses in it are at vastly varying stages in their progression. That said, we can compare what they have done on the track to date:

Champion Bumper Runners, Form, Ratings and Best Odds:

We won’t be betting in this race as we rarely touch bumpers, however, we would expect the winner to come from the top six in our ratings, but could not discount anything from around ELEGANT CONCORDE up – the market is often a good guide in bumpers however, as horses can take a little time to show their true ability, particularly in National Hunt, so if you are looking for a sign, watch for market moves on any of the more highly rated horses, and you could do well.

Nap of the Day

Our nap of the day has to be the win bet on MASTER MINDED at as close to odds against as you can find – you could well get even money on this horse on the Betting Exchanges (though it is currently trading as short as 1.92 on Betfair).

Whatever you choose to do, enjoy day two of the Cheltenham Festival 2010 – and don’t bet more than you can afford to lose – set a limit for each race and stick to it.

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