Cheltenham: final day of Open Meeting

the third and final day of Cheltenham´s Open Meeting sees another strong card assuming that is that we can see at all, as it was very foggy there this morning. The big betting race is the Greatwood Hurdle, a valuable 2 miles handicap at 16.15 CET, which looks very tricky with 18 runners, including 5 from Ireland, of which the best might be Thomas Edison (Tony Martin/ Tony McCoy). We are hoping für a home win, and our 3 against the field are Pine Creek (John Ferguson/ Denis O´Regan), Kashmir Peak (John Quinn/ Dougie Costello) and last year´s runner-up Cash and Go (Nicky Henderson/ Barry Geraghty).
Ferguson and O´Regan can also take the Grade Two novice hurdle at 14.35 with Sea Lord, a smart flat horse who has taken well to jumps and has won his last 6 races. However he faces strong opposition from Lac Fontana (Paul Nicholls/ Daryl Jacob) and The Liquidator (David Pipe/ Tom Scudamore), but we think his superior flat class may carry the day.
There is also a small field for the Grade Two novice chase at 15.10. Paul Nicholls has won this plenty of times and can do so again with Dodging Bullets (Jacob), who goes well at Chelternham and in fact last year won the novice hurdle in the previous paragraph. Raya Stasr (Alan King/ Robert Thornton) and Ted Veale (Tony Martin/ Barry Geraghty), making his chasing debut but also a CD winner over hurdles, are the dangers here.
The listed chase over 2 miles at 15.40 should in theory go to top-weight Sire de Grugy (Gary and jamie Moore) a very smart handicapper, but we are also interested in the chance of Tataniano (Richard Rowe/ Jacob), who gets 10 lbs from him and would be a good thing if he could recover his old form.
On flat form Lieutenant Miller (Henderson/ Jerry McGrath) should win the opening race, but he does not seem so reliable over the sticks. Toughness Danon (Ian Williams/ Kieren Woods) is unpredictable, but won recently on the flat; he finished third in the German Derby 4 years ago and if in a good mood today, could well spring a surprise.
Another horse with German connections is Neck or Nothing (Tom Hogan/ O´Regan) who runs in the bumper at 16.50. He was sold for 8,000 euros as a yearling at Baden-Baden, but changed hands for a huge sum only last week after easily winning his bumper in Ireland.


Betting forecast:
1. Race: Lieutenant Miller - Western Warhorse - Big Casino
2. Race: The Liquidator - Sea Lord - Lac Fontana
3. Race: Dodging Bullets - Raya Star - Ted Veale
4. Race: Sire De Grugy - Special Tiara - Kid Cassidy
5. Race: Cash And Go - Pine Creek - Court Minstrel
6. Race: Red Sherlock - Carningli - Champagne At Tara