The Cheltenham Festival is here!
We have analysed every race set to take place on the opening day of the meeting and our complete 2021 Cheltenham Festival Day 1 tips can be found below.
Appreciate It has gone to another level this year and he is deserving of his status as a dominant favourite in the Grade 1 Novices’ Hurdle.
He has now recorded five wins from his seven race starts and he comes into this contest on the back of a pair of Grade 1 wins at Leopardstown.
The Willie Mullins-trained horse still has the scope to improve and he makes his own luck right on the speed.
Happygolucky has recorded three wins from his seven race starts and he is well-placed to claim another victory in the Ultima Handicap Chase.
He relished the step-up in trip to score a tough win at Cheltenham last start and there is no fitter horse in this field.
I think he is the class horse in this field and I am surprised that he is not a dominant favourite.
Unbeaten mare Honeysuckle will face the toughest test of her career to date in the Champion Hurdle and I am confident that she will be up to the challenge.
She has already recorded six Grade 1 victories and she heads into this race on the back of a dominant ten lengths win in the Irish Champion Hurdle.
She is a genuine superstar and she is clearly the horse to beat.
The market suggests that the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle is a race in two between Concertista and Roksana and I am siding with the veteran Roksana.
She finished fourth behind Honeysuckle in this race 12 months ago and she heads into this contest on the back of a dominant eighth lengths win at Ascot.
Concertista is a very talented mare, but I don’t think there is as much between the two horses as the current market suggests.