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Cheltenham Festival – Coral Cup

This Grade 3 race is run over hurdles at two miles and five furlongs in length. It is a handicap race, for horses over four years of age. The 2018 Coral Cup will take place on 14th March at 14.50 GMT. This race can be a tough one for punters, due to the large amount of contenders, especially as no one horse has won the race more than once.

 

The 2017 winner was Supasundae, (16-1) with second place Taquin Du Seuil, (12-1) third Who Dares Wins (33-1) and fourth place taken by Monksland (66-1). Run on the Old Course, this Grade 3 race is handicapped, with the challenge of 10 hurdles. Introduced in 1993, this most competitive of handicap races offers a prize cup of £100,000.

 

The Coral Cup is one of the Ladies Day races, and in reality, it’s more about the fashion styles on the course, than about the horse racing action. Many punters see the Coral Cup as a taster to the main event of the day, the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Unlike many other races at Cheltenham, this event has always been sponsored by the bookmakers Coral from the outset, who have kept up the association with the race ever since.

 

 

Cheltenham Festival – Queen Mother Champion Chase

This popular race is one of the Cheltenham Festival highlights. It being the main race on the second day at the Festival, held on Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 15.30 GMT. Using the New Course, this Grade 1 Chase is for horses over five years old, and covers two miles of course.

 

The 2017 Queen Mother Champion Chase was won by Special Tiara ridden by jockey Noel Fehily, with Trainer Henry de Bromhead, with Fox Norton in second place, and Sir Valentino in third. Other champions of this chase have been jockeys Barry Geraghty and Pat Taffe who have both been champions five times. A hat trick winner was Badsworth Boy with wins in 1983,1984 and 1985.

 

Favourite names just now are Douvan and Altior, who are among 30 other entrants in this Betway Chase at Cheltenham. Previously known as the National Hunt Two Mile Champion Chase, the race was given its current title to commemorate the Queen Mother’s 80th Birthday in 1980. With a prize purse of £320,000, the chase, run over 2 miles with 12 fences, is the most prominent minimum distance chase of the racing Festival.

 

 

Cheltenham Festival – RSA Chase

This Gold Cup Chase for novices is a Grade 1 race over 3 miles and 110 yards, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 14th March 2018 at 14.10pm GMT. Run on the New Course at Cheltenham, this Chase is for horses over 5 years of age.

 

The 2017 RSA Chase was won by Might Bite, who went to victory over Whisper with Bellshill coming in third place. Number one favourite for the 2018 chase, is Monalee with Al Boum Photo a close second place.

 

This 3 mile race always proves a physical test of stamina, especially when it comes to the hill furlongs, particularly for the novice runners who have to tackle the nineteen fences. Previous talented novice winners include Arkle, Denman, Florida Pearl, and of course, Lord Windermere. It’s not unusual to see horses suffer falls or even to drop out of this race. With an even spread of both British and Irish trained horses winning over the last 10 years, who will win this year’s RSA Chase is anyone’s guess.

 

 

 

Cause Of Causes: An Idle Little Horse (Apparently)

Certain exceptional horses receive public acclaim beyond the world of horse racing by winning one of the ‘championship’ races at the Cheltenham Festival, such as the Champion Hurdle or Cheltenham Gold Cup, three, four or even more times. However, other horses, whose names may not be quite so recognisable, return to Cheltenham year after year and win different races, over different distances and/or even in different disciplines.

 

One such horse in recent years is Cause Of Causes, now a 10-year-old, trained in Co. Meath by Gordon Elliot. The Dynaformer gelding made his first appearance at the Cheltenham Festival in 2013, finishing seventh of 12 in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle won by Champagne Fever. He fared better the following year, finishing second of 23 in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup won by Spring Heeled and better again in 2015, staying on to win the National Hunt Chase by 1½ lengths.

He failed to trouble the judge on his next five starts but, back at Cheltenham in 2016, and reunited with leading amateur rider Jamie Codd, romped home by 12 lengths in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup. His next five starts were, once again, non-descript, but he was back on song for the Festival in 2017, forging clear to win the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase by 9 lengths.

In so doing, he achieved a notable treble for Jamie Codd but, for once, the partnership wasn’t quite finished for the season, going on to finish an honourable second in the Grand National at Aintree three weeks later. Having already joined the likes of Flyingbolt, Bobs Worth and Vautour as the winner of three different races at the Festival, Cause Of Causes remains in training this season, but don’t expect much before March.