CHELTENHAM has become a favoured meeting for short-price punters, and they will have plenty of choice again next week, with at least six favourites around the even money mark or shorter.

I won’t make any sweeping statements about what will or won’t happen to those well-fancied runners – every outcome between all and none of them winning is on the table, but betting them isn’t my thing.

Betting approach and temperament is personal, and my preference is to play away from the front of the market, at least a little, and three names stand out just now.

The decision about where Brighterdaysahead will run at Cheltenham has been a drawn-out one and the call to go for the Champion Hurdle is the right one for competitiveness but also, more selfishly, for my selection in the Mares’ Hurdle, Kala Conti.

She could have done with Lossiemouth also heading the Champion Hurdle route, but otherwise her claims are solid; she improved for the step up to two and a half miles at Leopardstown over Christmas and might do so again, having just turned five.

There should be little between her and July Flower at these revised weights, while she also seemed to pay for being part of a strong pace there, July Flower on the other hand ridden with more restraint.

Better than ever

Home By The Lee is back for a fourth go at the Stayers’ Hurdle on Thursday, but has looked better than ever this season, travelling smoothly in all of his races, while still finishing with his typical strength.

Things did not go his way in the Savills Hurdle at Christmas, when he got squeezed out leaving the back straight, but he still won with plenty in hand and, while current favourite Teahupoo remains the standout in the division, he would prefer more rain.

Brides Hill in the Mares’ Chase is a little more speculative. She has not been at her best this season, but a setback in the autumn might mean her first two runs have been needed more than might typically be the case, while neither of those races were run at the sort of strong pace she likes.

She thrived when granted a good gallop last season and there is more chance of getting that here, than in the four-runner fields she has faced lately, while the dry forecast is a big positive for her, and against some of her rivals.

Chief among them was Darcy’s Friend for Emmet Mullins in the second division of a 0-110 handicap hurdle at Leopardstown on Sunday, backed from an 11/2 morning price into a scarcely believable 5/6 SP in a 17-runner handicap.

It was no major surprise that the horse improved for the stable switch and 277-day break, a mark of 88 lowly in the grand scheme of things, and he had some decent point-to-point form going back. There was a certain irony that his purchasers after that point run were the I Backed Him Partnership, however. It is what it is.

At least as interesting was the market in the Webster Cup, the feature at Navan on Saturday, the marked drift on Grangeclare West beforehand reflected in his run in the race itself.

The morning prices went something like El Fabiolo 5/6 Grangeclare West 2/1, 10/1 bar and that looked a fair assessment of their chances.

El Fabiolo (no published mark here, but rated 174 on his last start) was the best horse in the race, but had failed to get around in two of his last three runs. His trainer has been quite negative on him during the season, however, and the fact he was running here rather than Cheltenham pointed to him not being what he was.

Grangeclare West (rated 162), on the other hand, had run a career best last time when second in the Irish Gold Cup, and had been no worse than fifth in the betting for the Gold Cup itself, before being declared for Navan.

Extreme drift

Support came for El Fabiolo during the day, he was the class horse after all, but with this came an extreme drift on Grangeclare West, out to an SP of 11/2 and a BSP of 8.02.

The negative move was reflected in the race itself. He set off behind the leader and eventual winner Senecia, but lost his position early down the back straight.

By the time the field arrived at the third last, he had closed up behind his rivals and was about half a length down jumping that fence, albeit likely in the wrong part of the track down the inner.

However, the response from there was minimal and he was beaten halfway to the next fence.

There are a few logical reasons for this. He may have had a hard race in the Irish Gold Cup four weeks previous, though the pace was hardly testing there.

Perhaps he is just a fragile horse that can throw in a bad run, and he was off the track for 547 days after his bumper win, and again for 331 days after his novice chase season.

Horses, fancied and unfancied, run badly every day of the week, but this was an extreme case of the market seeming to know how he would run beforehand and post-race reports that he was ‘normal’ afterwards shed no more light on his flop.

THERE has been more than a deal of negativity about the Cheltenham Festival this year, to the point that we are getting articles about how a trip to Benidorm is more appealing than heading for Bristol or Birmingham airports.

Each to their own and all that, but the racing itself remains central, regardless of where you are watching and now might be time to sit back and enjoy.

I’ve been at a handful of preview nights over the past week or so and there remains a lot of enthusiasm for the meeting on the ground; people still love Cheltenham and, given the chance, they will happily tell you about their fancies and the various good ante-post bets they have had (though there is rarely much mention of the ones that haven’t made the meeting or have quadrupled in price!).

There is something magical about a good ante-post bet and punters get far more out of it than just the money won, there is an attachment factor that can’t be achieved with a bet struck on the day of the race, and they are there to be relished.

So perhaps the critiques of the meeting, justified though many of them are, can be paused until next Friday evening at least and let’s just relish the racing.