Cheltenham today

Today has some pretty good racing for a Wednesday, and quite apart from Newmarket, there is flat racing at Beverley and this evening on the all-weather at Kempton and Dundalk, where there are runners from all the top irish stables. Cheltenham has the most interesting sport, and although it is not quite up to Festival standard, there are several runners engaged who were last seen at the big March meeting.

The best race is the Silver Trophy Chase, a Grade Two limited handicap over 2 miles 5 furlongs at 16.55, in which Menorah (Philip Hobbs/ Richard Johnson), only beaten by 3/4 lengths at Aintree by First Lieutenent., has top weight. Hunt Ball (Kieren Burke/ Nick Scholfield) is probably not as good as his owner thinks, but is still pretty smart and looks a big danger, as are Champion Court (Martin Keighley/ Ian Popham) and German-bred Ghizao (Paul Nicholls/ Ruby Walsh).

Most of the 7 races are handicaps and they are look very tricky, but we will be interested in the performance of Fredo (by Lomitas out of an Acatanango mare) in the 3 1/2 mile handicap chase at 15.45; he is coming off a long break, but stays really well and is now quite nicely handicapped as he has not won for more than 2 years. Nicky Henderson is by far the most successful trainer here and he has 3 runners in the 2 172 mile handicap hurdle at 16.20; this looks extremely difficult but we hope that stable jockey Barry Geraghty has made the right choice and therefore go for Top of the Range.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Puffin Billy - Bob Ford - Annacotty
2. Race: Hunters Lodge - Qianshan Leader - Handy Andy
3. Race: Party Rock - Edgardo Sol - Clerk`S Choice
4. Race: Menorah - Hunt Ball - Champion Court
5. Race: Italian Master - Minella For Steak - Moorlands Mist
6. Race: Ackertac - Houblon Des Obeaux - Goulanes
7. Race: Mr Mole - Changing The Guard - Crafty Roberto