Cheltenham Festival 2021: Wednesday 5/1 Accumulator

If Tuesday was a delicious starter, then this Wednesday card is a main course to savour. Although the opener is a cracking race, it is slightly too competitive for the purposes of this bet and I’m minded to swerve it for those with more bombproof chances. Those selections to my mind are as follows:

This horse needs no introduction even if some trainers have found the name ‘Monkfish’ hard enough to grasp this term. Last season’s Albert Bartlett winner has been imperious over fences this season, putting the hardy Latest Exhibition to the sword in the last in highly impressive style. He stays, he jumps and he’s seemingly scared off many of the challengers. The Irish banker of the week, he’ll win and will go favourite for the 2022 Gold Cup in the process.

After missing last year’s Festival with a stone bruise when this race was surely at his mercy, Chacun Pour Soi once again returns to Prestbury Park and has a worthy favourite;s chance in the same silks as the aforementioned Monkfish.

Having won 6 of his last 7 starts, Chacun Pour Soi has been as impressive as ever this season, particularly when putting 8 lengths between himself and Arkle second Fakir D’oudairies at the Dublin Racing Festival. Although odds-on that day, this son of Policy Maker just travelled and jumped like a good thing and put the race to bed in a few strides.

The one chink in his armour is that he has never raced at Cheltenham, although having listened to Willie Mullins’ interviews in the build-up, the stable confidence for this horse is clear to see. It’s easy to forget that Mullins has never won the Champion Chase and I’d suspect this is the one race he’d want to win this week if he could only choose one (though there are a few candidates). Altior’s defection only makes Chacun’s prospects better and I’d be hugely confident he can see off a series of brave challengers, namely Put the Kettle On who I see to be the main threat given her course record.

Last year’s easy winner of this race Easysland looks a fair way ahead of his competition in this year’s renewal of the Glenfarclas Chase. Although only 4th over C&D in December, Easysland was carrying top weight that day, 1st8lbs more than the winner Kingswell Theatre and with level weights at play here, he looks certain to reverse that form.

On official ratings, only Tiger Roll is capable of getting close to this favourite and although it would be a wonderful spectacle, he was less than impressive on his comeback at Navan making it 4 disappointing runs on the spin. The majorly interesting angle for me here is the two week COVID protocols obeyed by jockey Felix De Giles in the lead up to this, allowing him to take the ride which is the icing on the cake on what looks a really solid favourite.

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