Enda Bolger’s charge beat last year’s Grand National winner convincingly at Cheltenham.
Josies Orders justified favouritism in the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham’s November meeting on Friday afternoon, overcoming all rivals in a field packed with talent.
Most notable of the other runners was Tiger Roll, last year’s Grand National winner, who had many punters expectantly awaiting an impressive return to action.
Tiger Roll had not been seen since his Grand National triumph at Aintree in April, but his reappearance at Cheltenham ended up being nothing more than a run under his belt.
Having to carry top weight in the Cross Country Chase, punters did not seem to fancy his chances after initial favouritism. Josies Orders topped the market at 15/8, while Tiger Roll’s price had drifted throughout the morning to 5/2 having started out at 5/4 when markets opened.
Punters have not wasted any time in backing Josies Orders to win the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham next March as a result. He was sitting at 16/1 in that market earlier in the day, but that price was promptly slashed to as short as 6/1 after his convincing performance at Prestbury Park. He is now third favourite behind Tiger Roll (9/2) and Ucello Conti (10/1), with a best price of 10/1 available in places.
Trained by cross-country maestro Enda Bolger, the gelding came into this race off the back of a disappointing performance at Galway to return to winning ways emphatically. With an impressive record at Cheltenham including a win in the same race in 2015, punters were right to back him.
The ten-year-old will be right up there with the ones to beat come March if this performance was anything to go by.
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: "Josies Orders loves the Cross Country course at Cheltenham and was mightily impressive when dispatching a stellar field back at Prestbury Park. Tiger Roll may not have troubled the places, but will come on bundles off the run and looks set for another huge campaign."
