Cheltenham Day One Tips: Rhys Williams fancies 40/1 Tizzard chaser to rock Festival

• Blinkers go on Tizzard horse for the first time

• Rock My Way is overpriced at Cheltenham

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Cheltenham Day 1 Superboost

Last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle winning combination, Henry de Bromhead and Betfair Ambassador Rachael Blackmore, have another good chance of landing the Cheltenham Festival curtain raiser with the lightly raced Workahead.

The 7yo was incredibly impressive when thrashing William Munny - also in this race - at Leopardstown on Boxing Day and for this contest you can back him at the super-boosted price of 1/12.00 (from 4/91.44) to finish in the top five. To take advantage, just click on the odds in the below bet banner to go directly to the pre-loaded betslip.

*Please note. This superboost is provided by the Betfair Sportsbook and not by any of our tipsters or writers.  You can read about all of Betfair's offers on every day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival right here.

Racing... Only Bettor. Cheltenham Day 1. Watch Now!

Supreme Novices' Hurdle, 13:20, Cheltenham - Back Karniquet

The Supreme is likely to be very strongly run and Karniquet has a better chance of picking up some of the pieces than the market suggests.

It's easy to forgive his terrible run behind Romeo Coolio two starts ago given the very bad mistake early on. There were comments before his latest run suggesting that all wasn't right that day.

Last time when finishing second to Kopek Des Bordes, Karniquet was held up early on and was still in last jumping four out. He gradually made headway on the outside to move into second after two out but could never challenge the winner while pulling clear of the rest.

It was encouraging that he jumped better last time and I like the jockey change for a horse of his type with Danny Mullins taking over. I'm a bit concerned that he may switch off too much with the hood going on today as he seems unlikely to have any issues settling given the likely pace.

Hopefully he will be running through beaten horses who have been ridden handier late on and can pick up at least some of the pieces. Any 33/134.00 or bigger appeals.   

National Hunt Novices' Chase, Cheltenham, 17:20 - Back Rock My Way

Rock My Way is making his second start for Joe Tizzard in the remodelled National Hunt Chase and the market is underestimating his potential for improvement.

He showed plenty of ability over hurdles early in his career when trained by Syd Hosie but didn't progress and was given a wind op prior to switching to chasing. He ran respectably in his first three starts over fences for Hosie and then Anthony Charlton took over.

Rock My Way managed to win one race from three starts when racing under his name, that coming at Doncaster in a three-runner field, with far more in hand than the margin suggests.

After finishing fourth behind Inthewaterside at Newbury, he was switched to the care of Joe Tizzard and ran only 10 days after joining the yard at Doncaster. His jumping was poor that day and he had no chance with Weveallbeencaught in the closing stages but plugged on well enough to finish second.

Rock My Way should now be far more settled into the routine of the yard, which will help matters, and blinkers go on for the first time and he's reported to have gone well at home in them. While this is a significant step up in trip for him, I think he's capable of handling it. The bigger issue is his jumping as it's often been poor and it will be under more pressure today.

Despite that concern, he's overpriced given the potential for better with the greater impact of the stable switch likely to be seen today than last time. Any 25/126.00 or bigger appeals.

Now read Katie Midwinter's tips for day one of the Cheltenham Festival