2Mile 4 Novice chase (new race)

http://www.cheltenham.co.uk/racing/the_festival/race_schedule.html

theres the race schedule, last race tuesday

If Quel Esprit goes for this will be having a major bet on him. Thur 17th March

I think you"ll find the the new race is being ran on the Thursday, with the old Jewson being switched to the Tuesday.

Jewson are now sponsoring the new race, unless ive been miss informed.

apologies, overlooked the "handicap" part and just read that jewson was still thurs

Medermit looking a lot better when upped in trip there didnt need to show the toe he lacks for 2m. His jumping held together better at this trip also.
Now fav for the 2m 4f race reckon he and Quel Esprit will have major chances in it.

wonder if hells bay will be in that race,if so must have a chance

trainer just confirmed it.
impressive today and had he not clouted the last,would have won fairly easily imo

terrible idea for a race. Basically there is no point betting ante post on novice chases at the Festival now. They'll upgrade it to G1 as soon as they can which will only muddy the waters further.

Hell's Bay underrated because he only cost £3000. Can't believe I got 16s with good form in the book against two of the top three novices I've seen this season. Should have a very good chance in the intermediate race.

still fancy mr thriller. jockey said it was never travelling or jumping yesterday and the run against time for rupert was class until the fall

terrible if you want to bet ante post, but for racing its a good idea, how many good horses have had no chance of winning a novice chase at the festival because they don't have a trip.

they wouldn't be a good horse then imo

People need to start getting used to NH racing having more than two championship trips imo. Agree it has made punting the nov chases at cheltenham very tricky but hopefully the game's a bit bigger than that?

part of the antepost puzzle is about 2nd guessing trainers choices of races,and yes it can be frustrating,but i look at it as a challenge,and to me its an extra race to get stuck into at some stage and an extra oppertunity to make some money.No problem as far as i am concerned.

If Hell's Bay stays healthy at least you know he's guaranteed to show up in the new race unlike many of the others in the betting. He couldn't match the staying power of Time for Rupert at Cheltenham and they won't tackle that horse over 3 miles, albeit he was giving weight away, and he couldn't go the pace of Finian's Rainbow at 2 miles.

If the 2m 4f becomes a Grade 1 which it will eventually, then betting on the novice races will be too difficult to turn a profit on with the multiple entries imo. This season it is not as bad as some trainers are aiming higher to Grade 1 to go Arkle, Medermit for example even though the trip is definitely better for him in the 2m 4f Grade 2 am pretty sure they will go Arkle with him where he will be unplaced.

new race is good imo. not for antepost punters but the rsa often does horses no favours and the arkle is too short for stayers needless to say. id say it will become a g1 in the next few years

Eric,if you find it too difficult you can always give those races a miss and concentrate more on the other races,plenty of them.At the end of the day it does give 2 and half specialists more chance of success.
I for one will relish the challenge of trying to work out where horses end up,part of the fun of Chelt for me.And gives us plenty to debate on here.

For the avoidance of doubt, the new race WILL be a G1 for the 2014 running!

It will probably be the 1st race on the 7th day