Cheltenham Festival Tips: Kevin Blake has three selections for Day 2 of the Cheltenham Festival from 7/1 to 20/1

• Comfort Zone can land the Coral Cup

• Bussleton the one to be on in the Cross Country

• Take a swing on Third Time Lucki in the Grand Annual

• Check out our 2025 Cheltenham Festival HUB

• Get a completely free bet every day of the Cheltenham Festival with Betfair

• Gamble responsibly with Betfair during the 2025 Cheltenham Festival

Cheltenham Day 2 Superboost

Last year's Gallagher Novices' Hurdle winner Ballyburn is back in action on Wednesday looking to make it two from two at the Cheltenham Festival and Betfair have a very generous Superboost on him to win the Grade 1 Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at 14:00 today!

You can back him at the super-boosted price of 6/42.50  from 8/131.61 to win the second race on the card this afternoon. 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 offer on every day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival right here.

Racing... Only Bettor. Cheltenham Day 2. Watch Now!

By the time you're reading this, you will hopefully have knocked it clean out of the park on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival and are very much on the front foot for the week. If not, remember that it is a long week and especially for those that play at bigger prices, one home run can change everything. Whether you are winning or losing, keep your disciple, stick to the plan and gamble responsibly.

As mentioned yesterday, I am going to focus on the handicaps as best I can in this daily column. For those that might have missed it, I wrote a five best bets of Cheltenham last week that included three selections in Grade 1 races on day two, so be sure to check that out too and you'll be well covered for the day between both these columns here.

Coral Cup, 14:40, Cheltenham - Back Comfort Zone @ 7/18.00

The first handicap of the day is the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle (14:40) and the one I favour is the Joseph O'Brien-trained Comfort Zone. The six-year-old was a smart juvenile hurdler, winning two Grade 2 contests including one on the New Course at Cheltenham.

He missed much of the next year after that and took time to work his way back to form in handicap hurdles. He returned to form when running a particularly good race in a very competitive contest at the Galway Festival last August, finishing a close third to The Wallpark and So Scottish having made a mistake and been shuffled back at the third-last flight.

Since then he has won a valuable handicap on the Flat and returned from a break to finish a promising third in a valuable handicap hurdle at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting. That run put him on the ideal mark for this this race and with his aptitude for this sort of contest being proven, he can be expected to run a big race.

Cross Country Chase, 15:20, Cheltenham - Back Bussleton @ 7/18.00

The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase (15:20) will be a very different race this year having been reverted to a handicap after many years as a conditions race. It is likely to reward horses that have been well campaigned and trained to peak on this day. One that fits that bill is the Joseph O'Brien-trained Busselton.

The eight-year-old has plenty of class back in his form having won the Kerry National off a mark of 142 as a five-year-old in 2022. While he hasn't recaptured that level of form since, he has had his attentions turned to cross-country racing in recent starts and it seems to have sparked him up no end.

He shaped particularly well behind Stumptown in December, jumping the unique obstacles well. This race has been his target and with blinkers reapplied, he looks set to run very well.

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual, 16:40, Cheltenham - Back Third Time Lucki @ 20/121.00

The final handicap of the day is the Debenhams Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase (16:40). Despite the way this column has been going so far today, I want to be with British-trained horses in the handicaps wherever I can be.

In particular, older horses that have been very generously dropped by the handicapper are one profile that has been popping up amongst the winners at this meeting since the British handicapping team changed their approach to such runners prior to the 2022 meeting.

One that very much fits that bill in this race is the Fergal O'Brien-trained Third Time Lucki. The 10-year-old finished third in the 2023 renewal of this race off a mark of 149 when trained by Dan Skelton and while he has run only ok in three runs since joining O'Brien and returning from a long absence, the handicapper has been very generous in dropping him by 11lb for those three runs.

This race is likely to have been his target all season and it wouldn't surprise to see him bounce back to form in a big way here.

Now read more Cheltenham Festival tips and previews here