THURSDAY’s card at the Cheltenham Festival sees us cross the halfway mark of proceedings, and it gets no easier for punters with a set of fiercely competitive handicaps and Graded races.
The Stayers’ Hurdle (3.20pm) is no different with a smaller, but deep field assembled.
There’s a mixture of older, proven horses with the likes of previous winners Teahupoo and BOB OLINGER taking on the young pretenders such as Kabral Du Mathan and Honesty Policy.
We’ve got an ante-post bet running on Bob Olinger at 10/1 which looks a decent position at this point.
His record at Prestbury Park is exemplary and hopefully he can come alive for us at the track once more at the grand old age of 11.
With that in mind, it might be worth adding a bet on some younger legs at this stage and I’m doing just that with MA SHANTOU for the Emma Lavelle team.
His climb through the ranks has been eye-catching, winning a pair of competitive handicaps at the track before stepping up to Graded company in the Cleeve Hurdle where he ran out a taking victor over Impose Toi.
He’s an uncomplicated horse that is clearly still on the improve for a yard who does so well with these types, as we’ve seen in the past when they won the 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle with the great Paisley Park.
He and Kabral Du Mathan look like the young, upcoming ones who could jump to the front of the division, but the Skelton horse looks a tad short in the market to me at this stage.
As a result, I’m happy to side with Ma Shantou at 6/1 alongside our ticket on Bob Olinger.
POINTERS THURSDAY
Ma Shantou e/w 3.20pm Cheltenham
Already Advised
Bob Olinger e/w 10/1 3.20pm Cheltenham