Cheltenham Festival Antepost Tips: Sam Turner has a 33/1 National Hunt Chase bet

• Pre-Christmas Cheltenham contest a good Festival pointer 

• Williams stayer boasts the perfect credentials

• Go back Wen to make an impact on Brown Advisory

Welcome back to the latest instalment of my Cheltenham Festival Focus and, with less than 60 days to go to the biggest four days' racing of the National Hunt season, the ante-post markets are beginning to take shape.

Connections that were patiently plotting their way towards the second week in March are realising time is beginning to ebb away as a spell of cold weather has led to some opportunities being shelved, albeit Horse Racing Ireland do a marvellous job in rearranging cancelled fixtures.

Apparently the logistics of producing a similar result this side of the Irish Sea are too complicated so we lost a fair bit of the action in the preceding 10 days, including what looked a good card at Warwick.

The cold snap denied L'Homme Presse the chance of trying to land the Classic Handicap Chase, but I'm sure connections will look to something like the Cotswold Chase as a back up plan.

In the meantime, I will be interested to see where stablemate Zertakt next appears for the reasons outlined below.

The Princess Royal National Hunt Novices' Handicap Chase: Zertakt overpriced at 33/1

Princess Royal National Hunt Challenge Cup Novices' Handicap Chase 
Cheltenham Festival, Tuesday March 10, 17:20

In an earlier column, I drew my readers' attention to the performance of Zertakt at Cheltenham's pre Christmas meeting in a race which has served as a good pointer in past years.

The novices' limited handicap chase has been won by the likes of Haiti Couleurs, Corach Rambler and Sizing Tennesse in the past decade and, although this year's renewal was arguably a little weaker than some previous runnings, the performance of Zertakt was worth analysing.

Using the RaceIQ metric which evaluates jumping performance, this was the best that the gelding has jumped in his seven-race chase career to date and the game victory saw him reassessed upwards to a mark of 120.

A rating of 124 was enough to get horses into last year's running of the NH Chase so Zertakt would ideally need another rise in the ratings to ensure participation for a race his stable have had in mind for a while - so much so that they were keen to retain their eight-year-old's novice status over fences by drawing stumps early on last season.

It will be interesting to see which race connections have targeted for the gelding's festival preparation as the selection was an honourable fourth in the long distance handicap at last year's Winter Millions meeting at Windsor where he didn't appear a natural fit with the track's unique configurations.

He has no entry for Sunday's race this time round so another event looks on the agenda and I'll be monitoring his progress closely. In the meantime, a small play is advised at the prices on offer.

Brown Advisory Novice Chase: Now not Wen' the time to support Snowden novice

Brown Advisory Novices' Chase
Cheltenham Festival, Wednesday March 11, 14:00

In assessing this race from an ante-post perspective, it must be acknowledged that Final Demand possesses the potential to be a true superstar and quotes of around 5/42.25 appear more than fair, even two months out from his ultimate target for the season.

There were a few onlookers who were left a little underwhelmed by his Limerick Christmas win and it is probably fair to say that it won't be remembered as the marquee performance of his life.

However, many of his stablemates were under par during the festive period and the imposing Walk In The Park gelding still won a Grade 1 comfortably and by eight lengths, so criticism is arguably a little churlish.

Maybe the victory was greeted with apathy because we expect more from a horse that has looked extraordinary at times, not least when he thumped Wingmen by 13l on his chasing bow at Navan.

Wingmen is often used as a stick to beat others with given his conversion rate falls short of what it should be for a horse of his natural ability.

However, he is rated in the 140s so hammering him twice, over hurdles and now fences, by upwards of a dozen lengths means Final Demand has put down a formidable marker ahead of his third start over fences which is reported to take place at the Dublin Racing Festival.

Win there and the son of Walk In The Park will be one of the shortest prices for a festival event this year.

However, Final Demand has only tasted defeat once in his career and that came at last year's Festival when he was left behind from the final flight by The New Lion and The Yellow Clay in the Turners Novices' Hurdle so finding something each-way at a price against him might prove a reasonable long-term play.

With that in mind, I am not convinced we have seen the best of Wendigo over fences and the rigours this test demands should suit Jamie Snowden's seven-year-old perfectly.

His critics may point to a high-profile defeat in the Kauto Star Novices' Chase on Boxing Day when Kitzbuhel put him in his place with one of the best rounds of jumping seen from a novice at Kempton in recent memory.

The flying five-year-old is not rated in the same category as Final Demand when it comes to Closutton staying novice chasers so Willie Mullins probably won't lose too much sleep considering the merits of Wendigo.

However, I thought Snowden's novice hated the Kempton experience where the combination of a fast track and lively ground was all against a horse who is happier where the accent is concentrated on stamina.

In truth, it was to his great credit he managed to finish third given he was last of the six runners and driven strongly by rider Gavin Sheehan when the field turned for home.

A finishing speed percentage of nearly 110% - the best of the race - saw Wendigo finish off the final four furlongs just over a second, or approximately six lengths slower, than 168-rated King George winner The Jukebox Man which, considering the ground was too quick and the configuration of the track was against him, was no mean feat. The overall speed figure was also on a par with past Brown Advisory winners so this wasn't a case of a dawdle then a sprint, the Kauto Star was run at a geniune end-to-end gallop.

Three miles around Cheltenham is going to prove a much more suitable test for Wendigo who already boasts festival pedigree courtesy of his fine run in last year's Albert Bartlett where he was nearly brought down two hurdles from home.

Quotes of 20/1 look fair for a horse who must surely have this race as his sole target in March, while a jump index of 7.8 accrued from three chase starts to date is creditable and can probably be upgraded given last year's Challow Hurdle runner-up is yet to tackle true soft ground this winter.  

Admittedly, he may lack that touch of star quality, but this race isn't always captured by the bright, shiny thing, more the likeable grinder who is prepared to run through a brick wall.

With that in mind, Wendigo is the perfect candidate.

Sam Turner's Cheltenham 2026 Ante-post Ledger

Supreme Novices' Hurdle - Act Of Innocence win @ 25/126.00

Arkle Chase - Romeo Coolio @ 11/26.50

Champion Hurdle - Alexei each-way @ 33/134.00

National Hunt Novice Handicap Chase - Zertakt each-way @ 33/134.00

Brown Advisory Novices Chase - Wendigo each-way @ 20/121.00

Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle - The Blue Room win @ 40/141.00

Gold Cup - Gaelic Warrior win @ 8/19.00

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