Cheltenham Festival 2024 Tips: Week 8 Road to Cheltenham Preview

In 2019, Pentland Hills won a maiden hurdle at Plumpton on the 25th February. Three weeks later he followed up in the Triumph Hurdle.

However, the son of Motivator is very much the exception and not the rule regarding the success of horses who have raced within three weekends of the Cheltenham Festival.

Indeed, for the last two years no Cheltenham winners was seen within three weeks. However, with a whole host of action on this week, perhaps that will all change.

Welcome to the Road to Cheltenham, Week 8.

Our first dose of Festival clues appears on Wednesday in Punchestown’s Grade 3 Quevega Mares Hurdle. Incepted in 2017 it has proven a key trial for the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, a race in which the races eponym, Quevega, won six times. Black Tears was successful in the race in 2021 before following up at Cheltenham’s counterpart.

On Saturday we are treated to an action packed card at Kempton which includes three Grade 2’s, the Adonis, the Pendil and the Dovecote whilst also including the Coral Trophy, a prestigious handicap in its own right. Finally, Chepstow also hosts the last Pertemps qualifier, a race in which the top four finishers will qualify for the Pertemps Network Final at next month’s Festival.

Which Cheltenham Festival entries will we get this week?

Before any of that begins, however, we are treated to the handicap entries on Tuesday. Of the Festival handicaps, Ireland won five last year. Although that is a majority, the handicaps have been races that Britain have done much better in. Indeed, the first handicap at the Festival, the Ultima, has eluded Ireland since Ferdy Murphy trained Joes Edge to win it in 2007. 

One reason for this is because the BHA, the British body, can interpret ratings given to horses by the Irish handicapper. As such, the Irish horses are often subject to an inflated mark when lining up at Cheltenham. As such, the weights reveal has become an increasingly important date and punters should not get too carried away before then (1st March).

Cheltenham Festival 2024 Tips

This week I have turned my attention to the Albert Bartlett. A race that can divided opinion between those believing its attritional nature suits very experienced horses compared to the more vogue trend that it has become a much classier race in recent times.

Whatever one may think, it is certainly not a race for an unbeaten superstar to extend their record. Both the Supreme and the Baring Bingham see unbeaten horses go off favourite and win. Last year both Marine Nationale and Impaire Et Passe exemplified this. Constitution Hill, Shishkin, Klassical Dream all had unbeaten records over in the UK too.

Yet, in the Albert Bartlett, only The Nice Guy has seen his unbeaten record extended. Death Duty, Barters Hill and Santini have all been example of unbeaten favourites in a race that has had one single priced winner in the last 10 years, Monkfish. As such, one should not be put off by a horse who has tasted defeat.

A key trial for the race has proven to be the Land Rover Novice Hurdle at Limerick over Christmas. Vanillier finished 2nd in 2020, Penhill won in 2016 and Martello Tower also won in 2014. This year, my selection also comes from the race in the shape of 2nd placed Stellar Story.

In a confused market where hour horses were all between 9/4 and 4/1, the race was equally confused, being run at an absolute crawl before a sprint finish on heavy ground.

As such, the leader at two out, Loughglynn, also led at the finishing line. Stellar Story didn’t seem to be able to pick up as well as the winner, which is unsurprising given that his best performance has come on a sounder surface. Indeed, he beat both Ile Atlantique and Caldwell Potter over 2 miles on yielding ground in a Naas bumper last February.

That’s not to say his hurdles form has been terrible either. He finished 3rd behind Lecky Watson and Slade Steel at Navan, with the latter amongst the favourites for the Ballymore, whilst the 3rd and 4th from the Limerick race have both won since. He most recently ran in first time cheekpieces at the Dublin Racing Festival.

However, the recent rain, a shorter trip and some sloppy jumping really didn’t do him any favours and he’s already beaten the winner too. The jumping is a slight concern, but with only two hurdles flights in the final 7 furlongs on the New Course, I don’t think that is the variable that is most important, and at a price of 33/1, I feel more than compensated for.

This is the eighth of 10 Road to Cheltenham round-ups running each Monday from 1st January until 4th March, featuring ante-post tips every week!

See below for Jamie Radford’s ante-post tips in the Road to Cheltenham 2024 series, as well as Cheltenham tips from Architect for seven races so far.

This Week’s Cheltenham Ante-Post Tips

• Stellar Story @ 33/1 (1pt Each-Way) – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle