Liam Firkin's Cheltenham Festival Day 1 Premium Tips

The best four days of the year are about to get underway and we have some great ante-post positions but also a few that have gone awry which is to be expected but still disappointing nevertheless.

We head into Tuesday with the following bets already having been advised early in the season:

FRED WINTER:
Ante Post Bet: Munsif @ 20/1 - NOW 8/1
Stake: 0.75 Pts EW

(Currently needing one to come out of the race to get a run)

THE PLATE:
Ante Post Bet: O'Moore Park @ 33/1 - NOW 18/1
Stake: 0.75 Pts EW

I’m going to add two more selections to the pair above for day one at Cheltenham and will be hoping that all go well on the first day of the festival.

THE SHORT GO - 1 Pt EW - 6 Places

Best price of 20/1 at the time of publishing

This race has been dominated by British trained horses over the course of the last couple of decades however I think there is a runner lurking in here for the Irish who could be extremely competitive.

THE SHORT GO (20/1) has effectively been campaigned as a British trained horse with all of his appearances this season having come in the UK and all of them have been here, at Cheltenham. He’s no stranger to the track and has run in plenty of competitive handicaps at this venue and his record here is positive:

2nd of 14

5th of 24

4th of 18

3rd of 9

As mentioned, he has been exclusively campaigned at Cheltenham this season with two starts before the turn of the year and now sits on an attractive handicap mark of 138 and given how Henry De Bromhead has campaigned him, he has not been burdened with a further hike or opened himself up to the potential of a greater “Irish tax” from the UK handicapper.

Some of that Cheltenham form is also very encouraging with him ahead of The Doyen Chief in December who went on to win a class 3 handicap at Kempton before putting up another good run at the same venue in the Ladbrokes Trophy.

He comes into the race towards the bottom of the weights and off the back of a wind operation, which may well see him to better effect, and with course form to his name and off what could be a handy mark, he can have a big say as one of the representatives for Ireland.

ICEBERG THEORY - 0.75 Pts EW (5 Places)

Best price 9/1 at the time of publishing.

Paul Nolan tends to have his horses in fantastic shape for the big four days in March and he has a really interesting runner in here in the shape of ICEBERG THEORY (9/1)

He is a winner of his last two races and appears to be very progressive and one who can improve further for this step up in distance. His most recent win came at Cork and he beat O’Toole for the double green by over 6L who has subsequently come out and won a listed race at Leopardstown. That has given his form a good boost and he’s the added benefit of a very valuable 3lbs being claimed in the saddle from Conor Stone-Walsh.

The good ground will be to his liking and he may well come forward this marathon test over the 3m6f trip. There are plenty of interesting runners in here and if in-play punting is your thing then I’d also advise keep a close eye on the prices to both Backmeorsackme and Wade Out who can take a while to get warmed up and may well become attractive propositions during the race when they are likely to need encouragement to get into a rhythm and you may find yourself in a position where you can cover all three and I’d be gobsmacked if one of them doesn’t end up in the winners enclosure.

For tipping purposes and as a good starting point into this market I am with Iceberg Theory and think he has a great chance of not just hitting the frame but also winning this.