Triumph Hurdle Betting Tips and Preview for Cheltenham

February 27, 2014 Thatsbettingtips Staff

Triumph Hurdle betting tips and prediction with race preview for the opening race of Friday 14^th March at the 2014 Cheltnham Festival.

The first race on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival is the Triumph Hurdle; routinely a tricky, competitive affair. Last year’s race turned into a procession for Our Conor and, whilst a horse with that sort of presence seems absent from this year’s Triumph Hurdle market, there are still numerous contenders who have shown good juvenile form.

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The market is currently headed by a pair of joint favourites, one of which is Le Rocher (8/1 William Hill) trained by Nick Williams who is a French-bred gelding. He won his first start in the UK in the Future Champions Finale at Chepstow on bottomless ground. Le Rocher solidified that form on Trials Day at Cheltenham where he beat Nicky Henderson’s Kentucky Hyden (40/1 Stan James) once again, this time by 10 lengths.

Both victories came on very testing ground and the fear is that he may be ground dependant. Despite winning French form on good to soft ground, until he performs well on similar ground in the UK this issue will remain a concern and it may pay to look elsewhere for our day four Cheltenham tips.

One of the early favourites when this market was formed was Ivan Grozny but he is now a 25/1 shot following a poor run at Leapordstown. Plinth (14/1 William Hill) finished third that day and prior to that he received a canny ride from McCoy to topple Ivan Grozny on his first in Ireland. He has an excellent turn of foot and in bottomless Leopardstown ground Plinth’s victory was mightily impressive. When Aidan O’Brian saddles a horse over jumps it is usually worth noting and Plinth certainly has the pedigree and gives the visual impression that he is a classy horse. He travels really well and given more experience merits a lot of respect.

Another recruit adopting a change of codes and who could figure come the Festival is BROUGHTON (14/1 Betfred) and he is our each-way Cheltenham Festival betting tip for the Triumph Hurdle. John Ferguson’s recent Scottish Champion Hurdle winner has improved in his two starts over obstacles and looks progressive. He was occasionally messy on debut when he pulled clear with Fox Norton and left former ante-post favourite Royal Irish Hussar in his wake at Doncaster, but he showed much improvement at Musselburgh. He’s a likable sort who, thanks to his flat breeding, looks like he would thrive when faced with Cheltenham’s stamina sapping hill.

Royal Irish Hussar (20/1 Stan James) is still worthy of consideration despite having his colours lowered by Broughton and Fox Norton. The ground at Doncaster that day may well have been plenty soft enough for him and on a sounder surface he could well prove a different horse. Importantly, he has won at Cheltenham beating Guitar Pete who has since franked the form winning by 7 lengths. That form reads well and given good ground he could have a strong chance and is underestimated by his current odds.

Paul Nicholl’s made no secret of how highly Calipto ((6/1 William Hill) thought of after he travelled well and asserted close home to record a comfortable victory on his debut at Newbury before winning by over three lengths on heavy ground back at Newbury in February which propelled him to joint favourite from odds of 12/1.

Another who was visually impressive when demolishing previous winner Dubai Prince was Pearl Castle (16/1 William Hill) on just his second start hurdling. He arguably sprang a surprise for many after a less than inspiring debut for John Quinn where he finished tired and needed the run.

Overall it may be best to side with a real improver from the flat recruits. On balance, BROUGHTON showed marked improvement last time out and he certainly looks to have some nice form with his Scottish Champion Hurdle victory and that makes him our Cheltenham Festival betting tip for the Triumph Hurdle. John Ferguson is used to unearthing gems from the flat and he could well have done so once more. Providing he jumps well and handles Cheltenham’s stamina test, Broughton looks good each-way value.

Triumph Hurdle Betting Tips Each-way

Broughton each-way – click here to bet at 14/1 with Betfred

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