Cheltenham Festival 2021: Tuesday 20/1 Accumulator

At a Cheltenham Festival with an undoubtedly different feel to so many before it, many have been keen to point out the wealth of short-priced favourites available to back at this year’s Festival, in field sizes which in some cases are smaller than ever.

The opening Tuesday is no different and four short-priced favourites stand out across tomorrow’s card which can get punters off to a flyer!

Willie Mullins has won this race six times and has the obvious form pick in the shape of Appreciate It. Last year’s Champion Bumper runner-up possesses Cheltenham form above his rivals as well as superior Hurdles form to date, with an impressive win last time over Ballyadam, who he faces again.

Sunday night’s 10mm of rainfall is welcome too, and given he was backed off the boards ahead of his last run at the Dublin Racing Festival, it’s not unfathomable to imagine similar stable confidence to emerge ahead of the tape.

Plainly, this eight-runner race is the smallest field for this race in its history (previous was nine in 1950) and although the main dangers have remained in place, Appreciate It is the only horse in the top of the betting to have proven himself at the track and with the ground - he should hold them on all known form. Paul Townend’s charge can get the punters off to a flyer in the opener and makes a solid base for a Tuesday accumulator.

Although Shishkin backers won’t be complaining, the removal of Enurgemene from this race on Friday left many feeling as though one of the best contests of the week had been lost. Shishkin is unbackable as a single at 1/2 in my book, however is without doubt the most likely winner of this race and will take a world of beating.

Nicky Henderson’s star was seriously inconvenienced before winning the Supreme last season, though has taken his form to a whole new level over the larger obstacles, recording the two fastest 2m chase times this season, with subsequent winner Tamarco Du Mathin franking the form recently at Kempton. It’s extremely hard to see this beat, with Allmankind setting up the race perfectly with a bold show from the front.

To add some juice to the price of this multiple, I’m siding with Henry de Bromhead’s unbeaten mare Honeysuckle in the big one on Tuesday. Like all of these selections, the case is clear and the market is not wrong in pricing up last year’s Mares’ Hurdle winner as the favourite for this content.

The strength of the performance at Leopardstown last time was breath-taking, especially the way she quickened off the home turn – an asset which will stand Honeysuckle in excellent stead in this quickly run race – in addition to the staying qualities she showed in abundance across her mares-only career.

However it’s the frailties of the opposition that give me such confidence in this selection. Epatante – the second-favourite at the time of writing and last year’s winner, underperformed last time at Kempton, whilst front-running Goshen is full of quirks and form-lines which make his form harder to pin-down altogether whilst 5-yos do not perform well in this race.

Of the others, Sharjah looks the main danger though was beaten in this last year and I’d be concerned that significant improvement would be required to get past Honeysuckle. The last tick in the box is the Sunday night rain which has seen the ground go Soft (good to soft in places) which will definitely suit Honeysuckle as well as any.

To close this out, our faith once again goes in the hands of the Master of Closutton Willie Mullins, who sends last season’s Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle winner Concertista into what looks a highly winnable contest.

Concertista is unbeaten over obstacles this season and physically looks to have come on plenty from her Novice campaign which concluded with a comfortable win at the Festival last year. Ruby Walsh made this his NAP of Day 1 at one of the preview nights indicating that all has gone well at home in the lead up to this and the likes of Roksana (needs further) and Dame De Compagnie (strange prep coming back from jumping fences)/Black Tears (was beaten by Concerista at Christmas) have bits to find with the favourite on this season’s form.

That’s not to say Concertista won’t need to improve herself, the Festival of course is a target for many, though given her upward curve this season, it’s not a huge leap to suggest further progress is on the cards at a track where she has shown a liking.

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