Barry Geraghty’s William Hill blog: Land on Island to land the Greatwood

William Hill ambassador Barry Geraghty previews the third and final day of Cheltenham’s November Meeting as well as the pick of Sunday’s racing from Navan.

Cheltenham, Sunday

CABHFUILFUNGI (2:20pm) can be translated as ‘Where is Fungi?’ – Fungi was a famous dolphin in Dingle who was a major tourist attraction for about 30 years, but he passed away and sadly there was no more Fungi! He has strong form on testing ground, winning on soft and placing on heavy last season, so should have no problems in the conditions. This is his first run back, but he does tend to go well when fresh and he looks to be on a workable mark, so he could be the one in a tricky race.

BEAUPORT is a horse that does well in staying chases like this three-mile-three-furlong contest (2:55pm). He won the Midlands’ National in 2024 and won a big staying handicap at Ascot on his return to action last season, so we know he stays and is capable on his first start of the season. He tends to be consistent in this sort of company and with the Twiston-Davies horses in form, there’s every chance he could have another big day.

GIBBS ISLAND is the one for me in the Greatwood Hurdle (3:30pm). He disappointed at both Cheltenham and Aintree last season but he had good form prior to that, and returned with a nice win at Chepstow last month. He could be a horse that is potentially unexposed and slightly underrated because of his two blips last season. He has winning form on soft ground and looks capable of going well despite a rise in the weights.

Navan, Sunday

Unfortunately we lost Navan’s Saturday card to the weather, but hopefully Sunday’s card gets the go ahead.

The Grade 3 Monksfield Novice Hurdle (1:22pm) is an interesting event and one where I’m not giving up on KALYPSO’CHANCE. He jumped badly left on his return at Down Royal, and it was disappointing he was beaten there, but it’s interesting that Gordon Elliott is bringing him back quickly for a race like this. He still obviously holds him in high regard and if you draw a line through that last run, a reproduction of his bumper form where he beat Heads Up would make him hard to beat.

I’m a big fan of WILL THE WISE who lines up in the Troytown (2:32pm). He won a handicap hurdle over two-miles-seven-furlongs on heavy ground at Naas before going on to finish sixth in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham. He opened his account over fences at the fourth attempt at Galway last time, after improving massively from his first three starts over fences. With the exception of the last two fences, he jumped well there, and he has the right profile for this race. Gavin Cromwell is a master at targeting these sorts of handicaps and he looks to have been campaigned with this race in mind. I think he could be ahead of the handicapper.