Sue Smith’s charge is being heavily backed to win at this year's festival after an impressive run.
Midnight Shadow, trained by Yorkshire-based Sue Smith, is being backed to win the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.
There’s some conflict in the market, with one bookie going short as 10/1, while the best price available is 16/1. However, having attracted 64% of bets on the Stayers’ Hurdle market in the last 24 hours, it’s clear that punters fancy the six-year-old to win.
Midnight Shadow has put in a number of impressive performances already this season, most notably when winning the Relkeel Hurdle from the highly-rated Wholestone at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.
Smith is no stranger to winning major races, having trained Auroras Encore to win the Grand National back in 2013. A 66/1 shot to win the great steeplechase on the day, the odds of 16/1 on Midnight Shadow winning at Cheltenham will be of no concern.
Punters are gambling on whether the six-year-old could successfully make the step up to 3m having raced over up to 2m4½f so far. With plenty of talent topping the market, including Penhill (7/1), Apples Jade (10/1) and Laurina (12/1), there are also likely to be plenty of strong challengers.
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: “Sue Smith thinks this horse will carry on improving the further he goes, so the Stayers’ Hurdle could well be within his reach.”
“Midnight Shadow surprised plenty when winning the Relkeel Hurdle comfortably and we’ve now seen a flurry of bets on the Stayers’ Hurdle market.”
“Punters are snapping up the chunky price while they can, if he romps home in his final run before the festival it won’t hang about.”
