Cheltenham Day One

There are plenty of crazy bets and plenty of good offers going round ahead of the big start today at 2.00, so now would be a good time to open a new online account. Still my favourite is Bet365 who remove that dilemma of whether to take a price or not - with them you take the price at the time and if the SP is higher you get the SP. They also do a Channel 4 special which includes Cheltenham that if you back a winner at 4/1 or better you get a free bet to the same stake in the next Channel 4 race and you can keep going and going. If you are happy with your accounts though, make sure you check out www.oddschecker.com to make sure you're getting the best prices.
Well thats the waffle out the way, now to the big test...

2.00 There is no standout favourite in this race and for a very good reason. As far as I'll go is to say I see the winner being one of Captain Cee Bee, Rippling Ring or Muirhead. The money seems to have come for the latter, particularly across the Irish Sea.

2.35 Noland 9/4
This looks much easier to pick. Yes Noland is a short price and Paddy Power suggested on the morning line he was his lay of the day but thats a brave call, and may just be the Irishman talking his book. I dont see much troubling this Cheltenham specialist and so he's my first tip of the day.

3.15 Sizing Europe 5/2
A cracking race in prospect with last year's winner, last year's Supreme Novices winner, and last year's Triumph Hurdle all taking the start, but I cant see past any Irish winner here. Sizing Europe just has too much class for me, even in this company.

4.00 A very difficult one to pick this, so go make yourself some tea, crack open the biscuits and tune into Countdown for a while before the best bet of the day.

4.40 NAP Wonderkid 11/4.
These cross country races have been farmed by the Irish and you need any experienced horse who's been round here before. The stats are quite skewed in these races given Spotthedifference's dominance, however only 3 of 24 races have seen anything outside the front five in the betting bring home the bacon. But this year you only need to get to number one in the betting - Mr Martin's entry has won round here before and I expect to see him set us up for the lottery of the last.

5.20 Another difficult to pick handicap but it could be another Pipe v Nicholls Cheltenham battle. Can Ashkazar continue the trend of the last two years' winners of Aga Khan bred horses winning? On the form of his run at Sandown on Saturday he could do. But only 2 horses in the first 7 home in the 3 runnings of this race have been at single figure prices. One of which though was last year's winner Gaspara, who had also won at Sandown the previous Saturday... for David Pipe. Make your own mind up!!!