Mares’ Chase Tips

There will be many, many JP McManus-owned horses talked up and supported this coming week, and if he didn’t already have one or two of the leading fancies for most races, he has seen fit to acquire a few new additions in races where he wasn’t perhaps as strongly represented.

He could have an extraordinary week, and the Mares Chase is a race in which he has had two out of the three winners of the newest Cheltenham Festival race. Willie Mullins has also saddled two of those three winners, and the pair teamed up with Elimay 2 years ago.

But Mullins was upstaged in the race last season by a JP McManus-owned horse trained elsewhere by Colm Murphy, and I think that history can repeat itself again, as at the prices, I think that the Gavin Cromwell-trained Limerick Lace is an outstanding 5/1 each-way bet with William Hill or Bet365.

Dinoblue is the general even money favourite, and if this race was over 2m, then the rest of the field probably wouldn’t see which way she went around there. But as luck would have it, the race isn’t over 2m, it’s over the much more searching test of 2m4½f and that could be extremely relevant in my opinion.

There is no doubting that Dinoblue is the fastest horse in the race, and she won the Grand Annual last year, but as stated that came both over 2m and also on the sharper Old Course. The longer trip and the stiffer New Course will really suit Limerick Lace, and she has come back this season a much-improved mare.

She won on seasonal debut on very testing ground at Clonmel, before running an outstanding race to finish runner-up to Coko Beach in the Troytown Chase. What was notable was the move Limerick Lace had to make to get into contention from her position in rear exiting the back straight, to jump the last just about upsides Coko Beach. Her stamina for 3m on heavy ground just ebbed away close home and on account of that big move to get into the race.

Clearly showing her versatility for ground, she absolutely tanked along to win a Listed Mares chase at Doncaster on good ground after that, and in being ridden by Jonjo O’Neill Jnr on that occasion, I wonder if we got a glimpse as to the potential jockey booking she may benefit from in the Mares Chase at Cheltenham on Friday.

Mark Walsh will presumably ride Dinoblue, but that should in no way suggest that Limerick Lace is a clear second string, as Gavin Cromwell will have her fit, ready and set to run for her life.

At 5/1 each-way with William Hill or Bet365, given the fact that the other form horses – Allegorie De Vassy, Riviere D’Etel and Harmonya Maker – are all better going right-handed, and the likes of stablemate Brides Hill and Caroles Pass don’t look quite good enough, Limerick Lace looks like an outstanding bet-to-nothing.

Will Smith’s Mares Chase Tips

The final crescendo of what’s been yet another rollercoaster ride of a Cheltenham Festival is upon us, and for another year it has passed by in whirlwind fashion. Of course, this is where the ante-post punters begin their voyage towards the 2024 Festival, but not just yet, as we have fascinating final day to savour.

The Triumph, County Hurdle, Albert Bartlett and Hunter Chase are either far too fiendishly open or subject to a large portion of unknowns, so are being passed over on these pages. For followers of this column, the first betting interest will be in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup at 3.30 – the big one.

With two nice each-way bets in this, that are still available at slightly bigger prices now, it wasn’t the shrewdest ante-post play in the world, but I do think both still represent great value as all the support has come for Galopin Des Champs and A Plus Tard.

Bet of the day, perhaps even bet of the meeting, in terms of the horse who I have long felt could be what many view as ‘banker’ of the four days, is Impervious in the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase at 4.50.

She was a decent hurdler, but has gone to a much different level over fences, and that is clearly the reason why JP McManus has seen fit to purchase her. At 2/1 with Bet365, William Hill, BetVictor and Boylesports, Impervious should be clear favourite in my eyes.

The reason she isn’t is the looming presence of Allegorie De Vassy, who looks pretty special too, but might just meet her match I feel, in the shape of Impervious.

The inaugural running of the Mares Chase at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival was, as many predicted, just another opportunity for Willie Mullins to cherry pick the most suitable mare(s) in his sizable yard, and plunder the prize.

With Colreevy and Elimay fighting a rousing battle from a long way out, neither giving an inch, we were treated to a spectacle that was indeed befitting of the Cheltenham Festival. While Mullins, (with the help of Galopin Des Champs winning the final race of the meeting 35 minutes later,) had nipped up on the outside of Henry De Bromhead to claim the trainers title, with the 1-2-4 in the Mares Chase.

That De Bromhead had led that race for so long, will quietly rate him you’d imagine, and given what is a stellar period for the yard, striking while the iron is hot and notching up a maiden Cheltenham Festival trainers’ title will be high on the agenda.

To achieve this, he’ll need to be careful with where he targets certain horses, and prime among them will be Put The Kettle On. Champion Chase heroine from 2021, it is not too damning a notion to suggest that she perhaps nicked that Grade 1 prize, given the tactical set-up once the tapes lifted.

Takin absolutely nothing away from her ability and battling qualities, she was allowed to settle into her own tempo on the front end, thus helping Aidan Coleman to ride a brilliant tactical race.

Subsequent tilts at the Celebration Chase at Sandown and the Shloer Chase back at Put The Kettle On’s beloved Cheltenham, have seen her taken slightly off her hooves early on.

Given the emergence of Nube Negra, Energumene and the assumption that Chacun Pour Soi will be ridden much more aggressively this time around, if she were to be aimed at regaining her Champion Chase crown on anything other than very soft ground, I’d fear she would not possess the requisite early speed.

This element to her profile has not evaded connections, and with a step up in trip imminent on New Year’s Day, the Ryanair Chase and Mares Chase come firmly into view for next March.

Last year’s Ryanair Chase winner Allaho was just about the most impressive winner since the days of Sprinter Sacre’s pomp, and he possesses early speed comparable to that of Chacun Pour Soi, and clocked a time nearly 7 seconds quicker than Colreevy did in the Mares Chase a day later.

With the looming presence of a rejuvenated Envoi Allen somewhere in a stable nearby Put The Kettle On at Henry De Bromhead’s County Waterford base, meaning De Bromhead has a Ryanair Chase option – surely the superstar mare Put The Kettle On is best being aimed at the Mares Chase on the Friday of the 2022 Cheltenham Festival.

If she was, then you’d be lucky to get even a quarter of the 11/1 currently available with Paddy Power or Betfair Sportsbook. It is rare for me to not suggest backing an ante-post tip each-way, but on this occasion, I feel the best approach is to go all-in on the win only.

It is a recommendation that flies against my own mantra of being nailed on to a particular ante-post target, but on this occasion, the value available at 11/1 for Put The Kettle On to win the Mares Chase at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival more than outweighs the obvious risks involved.