CF was in the right race, the fault was that walsh, although bowling along out in front, still didn't make full use of that serious strong cruising speed he has, hence there was still 5 or 6 still in it turning in, I reckon the previous fall left more of a mark on the jockey than it did the horse.

vautour is a monster, I'd back him for the arkle if I wasn't worried that with the possible omission of SS again next year, he could end up in the queen mum as a novice!!!

age - youth is everything, look forward not back

simply avoid the handicaps after a wet winter, on the faster ground the form becomes ridiculous.

If you looked at the handicaps this year, they were almost invariably won by the better quality horses. What I mean is the winners came from the top half of the handicap, often the first several in the handicap, and something like all the handicaps were won by runners with racecard numbers higher than 13. I'm supposing that the better quality ground enables the better quality horses to perform at their peak.

Secondly, it can pay to latch on to 'in form' trainers, and follow outfits like Gigginstown, when they are on a roll.

Was going to say pretty much the same, word for word.

Whilst plot horses can never be ruled out in the handicaps, Whisper, Fingals Cave, Savello probably gave some of the trends boys nightmares, re low weights / handicap ratings orthodoxy.

Re latching onto connections that hit form for the festival, this has worked in the past - Twiston-Davies last year, Malcolm Jefferson the year before that, Gigginstown this year and arguably Alan Kings horses ran a lot better than prices indicated in the main.

Finally, regarding the ground, I just don't get whet the issue is. You know the exec will always aim t have good or good-to-soft in the title, so bar downpours on the weekend before or during the Fez, that is what it will be. As punters that is good news because to a greater degree it is a 'given' you can factor into your betting.

gazovic 14 Mar 14 10:26 
ante post prices away from the big high profile names (and perhaps in general) are a travesty

more often better waiting for the morning of the race

I could dig out loads of figures to prove this wrong. The shrewdies were betting Faugheen, Dynaste, Vautour, Holywell et al
at some very nice prices. I know that Dynaste was def posted on here at 10+ and I think Holywell at 20+ (which is hardly
even an antepost bet considering how late the h'caps are priced).

Sire de Grugy beat all of the horses whose trainers thought they could win the QM. He has been by far the best 2 mile chaser around since Sprinter Sacre had his problem. Still will be next season in my opinion.

the spectre is the place to drink on monday night - very cheap drinks

jaimie olivers italian is great food

lush cosmetics are scum

paddy power offer great value monday teatime

the new one was bloody unlucky

the touts offer best value for tickets

Duffy, imo it's v unusual for Willie to run a novice in a championship race (can't think of one) but how confident are you that he's going chasing in 8 months or so?

You need lady luck on your side. The margins between victory and defeat are wafer thin. Sire de G just missed being brought down. Calipto broken stirrup and many more.

Never back r Walsh in chase at festival last winner 2009 Kauto Star

its looks to me Ramruma that the one's you really like are the ones you should be having a real tilt at, antepost or not..... and just use the other races for opportunistic nibbles.

I think willpower will be the issue re the point with Duffy above!
I tend to agree that Vautour will go chasing, it's the 5/1 for the Arkle that's making me take a closer look and challenge his credentials and alternatives.

On the plus side he looked great in the Supreme, goes on any ground and Mullins thinks he's a monster. There also seems to be a clear pecking order at the stable and Vautour, particularly as he's owned by RR, would already seem to occupy pole position to run in next year's Arkle.

On the minus side we know he's a brilliant hurdler but we don't yet know if he's as good over fences. WPM potentially has Faugheen, AP, VL and various others who could run in the Arkle, also what if UDS doesn't turn out to be as good as we think for the Champion Hurdle, plus all the other glorious uncertainties of ante post betting?

So the 5/1 seems skinny at this stage, say when compared with the 7/1 or 8/1 offered on Champagne Fever at the start of this season (and we thought that was skinny didn't we?)

I guess both CF and Vautour had/have various options open to them and resisting that 5/1 might be the difficult part!

Two things for me - follow the major bookies on Twitter in the build up to the Festival.  Some great offers like Paddy Power's Vautour and Faugheen to win at 24/1 and Vautour and Sire De Grugy at 16/1.  Ladbrokes layed Quevega at 6/4 in the build up as well.

Of course, a lot of specials didn't come off, but if you pick the correct ones, you can make a few quid.

The second thing I learnt is that Arvika Legionnaire is only 10% as good as I thought he is!

An observation regarding Mr Nicholls....now about 0 from 70 with chasers at Cheltenham in last few years. Zilch since days of Kauto?

Good luck with that project TR, it's not easy

Its becoming a bit too big for my liking .. everyone getting involved