The four-day Cheltenham Festival continues at a high pace this afternoon and there’s plenty to keep punters interested.
When is day 3 of Cheltenham Festival?
The meeting started on Tuesday and continues today (Thursday, March 14). Willie Mullins is already having a week to remember and will be bringing up his 100th festival winner on Wednesday. The first of seven races today starts at 1:30 PM. Scroll down for a full schedule.
How can I watch Cheltenham Festival?
The first five races of each day of the meeting will be broadcast live and free on ITV1 and via streaming via ITVX. For coverage of the entire card, including the last two races of each day, Racing TV is the right place for you.
What races are on day 3 of the Cheltenham Festival?
1.30: Gymnast’s Beginner’s Pursuit (Grade 1)
Best guess: Facile Vega
2.10: Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap)
Best guess: Gaoth Chuil
2.50: Ryanair Chase (Grade 1)
Best guess: Ahoy Senor
3.30: Paddy Power Stayers Obstacle (Grade 1)
Best guess: Teahupoo
4.10: TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap)
Best guess: Theater Man
4.50: Ryanair Mares Novice Hurdle (Grade 2)
Best guess: Brighterdayhead
5.30: Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Hunt for Amateur Jockeys
Best guess: Inothewayurthinkin
The day starts dry, but showers will fall in the Cheltenham area by the afternoon. The temperature is expected to be between 10 and 14 degrees Celsius. Visibility is expected to be good.
The most recent message this afternoon is soft about the New Course.
Cheltenham Festival day 3 tips
Marcus Armytage’s top choice
Teahupoo (obstacle for stayers, 3.30): A light campaign so far this season could pay off handsomely here for Teahupoo connections, which is evident in official ratings and, tantalizingly, with the potential to rank even higher. He remains a low-profile hurdler and appears to have focused on this race since finishing an excellent third last year. Jack Kennedy has a perfect record on the horse and in a race without much depth, Teahupoo is keen to take all the punches in this year’s Stayers’ Hurdle.
Telegraph Sport’s top choice
Ahoy Senor (Ryanair Chase, 2.50): This race looks wide open, with rain appearing to have damaged old favorite Banbridge’s chances. Envoi Allen, Stage Star and Capodanno all have serious chances, but at the prices Ahoy Senor should be backed. This is the time of year when he tends to come into his own and he will benefit from the return to the left-handed circuit after a good run at Ascot last month. Expect Derek Fox to bounce him forward and make it a tough test of endurance over two and a half miles. Should his jump hold up, he should have a chance at the bottom of the hill.
Support Crambo to lead a much-needed British fight
By Marcus Armytage, in Cheltenham
Is Thursday the day the British finally make a good appearance at this year’s Cheltenham Festival? You could argue that they don’t need a change of luck so much as a change of horses, but the home-trained Crambo has an excellent chance of keeping the Paddy Power Stayers Hurdle at home and also Ga Law with the Ryanair Chase.
The enduring hurdles division is crying out for a new star and Crambo, an improving seven-year-old who does just the bare minimum in his races, can finally see off the old guard of Dashel Drasher, last year’s surprise winner Paisley Park. Du Berlais and previous winner Flooring Porter to the less strenuous pastime of racehorse retraining lessons.
Fergal O’Brien, one of the course’s most local trainers, is yet to celebrate a festival winner. As well as the Long Walk Hurdle winner Crambo, who has been freshened up since his Ascot run at Christmas, he also has the useful unbeaten Dysart Enos in Thursday’s filly race, probably the best two chances he has ever had at the meeting and he will hoping for some return.
Of course, it’s worth noting Willie Mullins runners Asterion Forlonges and Sir Gerhard, while his cousin Emme’s 2022 Grand National winner Noble Yeats is looking to give owner Robert Waley-Cohen a second win in the race after Rustle in 1989. from them.
Jamie Snowden has in-form Cheltenham specialist Ga Law for the Ryanair Chase. The trainer says the horse is flying home and could be the one to break the stranglehold of the short-priced winners at this meeting.
“He comes into the race in much better shape than when he finished fifth last year, beaten by just nine and a half lengths,” Snowden explained. “If he jumps better than last year, it will end up there.”
Pick of the Irish looks like another Mullins-trained runner Capodanno, winner of the Cotswold Chase last time out, although Joseph O’Brtien’s Banbridge and Henry de Bromhead’s Envoi Allen will all have their supporters.
Gray Dawning, a very impressive winner at Warwick last time, should do well for the Skelton brothers in the Turners, while Gavin Cromwell’s topweight Inothewayurthinkin looks set for the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase for amateur riders. Having Derek O’Conner, winner of Tuesday’s National Hunt Chase at Corbett’s Cross, is not a negative.
My morning routine this week was to start my day riding for Gordon Elliott and on Wednesday I sat Riaan, a charming seven-year-old hunter, for Gordon Elliott. He is a 20-1 shot for the TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase.
My ride on Monday and Tuesday, De Goffer, was fifth in the Ultima but didn’t quite get home in the mud. He had a bit of the impression that he had seen everything he had been here before, but in contrast, all the way to the practice area in the middle of the course, Riann’s eyes were focused on stalks that monitored the garbage trucks with orange flashing lights . and people who prepare the course for that day.
You didn’t need Dr. Don’t be a Dolittle to know that this was his first visit to Cheltenham, but it was a beautiful ride and as we got out to give them a tuft of grass his attention darted between the distant stands and the hundred or so horses. all around him. His character convinced me and good luck to him.
However, this could be Elliott’s day. Teahupoo, who will relish the conditions in the Stayers Hurdle, has a huge chance, as does the stable banker who leads Brighterday in Ryanair Mares’ Novice Hurdle.
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