Here's my 1st of many as the festival looms up long"ish ""short list"" for this years Cheltenham 2012, early days yet mind and i will try to keep an open mind right up to the weekend before the meeting, so picks might and will probably change.. Just spent the night watching the superbowl and going over the potential runners, the Gold Cup looks wide open this year, i"ve had a wee rare for me ante post dabble on Quito De La Roque his Lexus run i"ve ignored
with the proximity of Roberto Goldbeck i think Quito just had a off day and will put up a far better performance in the Hennessey.... [i hope as then his odds will tumble for the GC]
So after watching a few races, reading up on trainers comments etc and doing some number crunching on my abacus my tentative picks and long shots at the mo are -
Champion Hurdle - Hurricane Fly
World Hurdle - Big Bucks
the 1st 2 should be nailed on lol...
Arkle - Peddlers Cross
Neptune - Simonsig to upset current fav Boston Bob [i"m hoping]
RSA - Last Instalment and First Lieutenant
Ryanair - Quel Esprit [if he runs] or Blazing Tempo [possibles to cause a upset]
Albert Bartlett - Sword of Destiny at a nice price is interesting
Gold Cup - Quito de la Roque, Quel Esprit [if he runs] Grand Crus [cant ignore him, i hope connections decide to give him a go in the big"un]
not long to go