Well the waiting is nearly over and The Cheltenham Festival gets underway tomorrow with the feature race being the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle run over 2 miles and worth £370,000. Binocular is a worthy favourite for this and could easily become one of the “greats”. I have seen a lot of excellent Hurdlers over the years but the best has to be Night Nurse (pictured on right) who won the Champion Hurdle in 1976 when a five year old and then in 1977 when a six year old. In 1976 he started at 2/1 favourite and made all the running to win on good to firm ground. In 1977 the ground was heavy and the bookmakers opposed Night Nurse because of this. He made all the running again and beat a little known five year old by the name of Monksfield. Night Nurse’s odds were a very rewarding 15/2.
Binocular is also a five year old and acts on soft ground which he will encounter tomorrow. He is owned by J.P.McManus who also has very good chances of winning the Cross Country Chase with L’Ami. Last years winner also owned by J.P.McManus, Garde Champetre, is a very able second string.
Tomorrow’s proceedings get underway with the Supreme Novices Hurdle worth £120,000 run over two miles. Cousin Vinney was an impressive winner of the Bumper last year and would be a popular winner of this.
The William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase worth £90,000 and run over 3 miles looks a very difficult race to solve. Maljimar, Star De Mohaison and Wichita Lineman are the three on my short list.
Be lucky.