Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Cheltenham Festival Day One preview
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell talks through his runners for the first day of the Cheltenham Festival.
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Tuesday, Cheltenham
We start off the week with Only By Night in the Arkle (2.00pm). It was a hard decision to make to run her here instead of the Mares’ Chase, but in the end, she can only run in the Arkle this year and she can run in the Mares’ after that.
It’s a small field headed by Majborough, who is a very talented horse. We’d need him not to be at his best to win the race I’d say. That said, I think our mare is better than the market makes out and she’s capable of beating the rest.
We’ll look to follow the leaders round, let them go at it and see how it unfolds. Hopefully they go a good gallop, and she can stay on up the hill.
Next up is the Ultima (2.40pm) where we run Malina Girl. She’s in good form at the moment and although she mightn’t be very well handicapped in the race, I think she’s going to run well. She’s been round Cheltenham a few times before and we’ve got no concerns about the trip or the ground with her.
Our next two runners on the day are in the Fred Winter (4.40pm), where we have Total Look and Robbies Rock. We’ve put cheekpieces on Total Look for the first time. We schooled him in them at home and they seemed to sharpen up his jumping so hopefully they’ll have the same effect on the day.
The handicapper has been harsh enough on him but hopefully he still has a good chance. He’s travelled well enough throughout his races so if the cheekpieces work then he should have a good chance.
Robbies Rock is an outsider and although he’s probably unlikely to win the race, I think he’ll outrun his price. I don’t know whether a mark of 126 is his limit but he’s a big, scopey horse who’ll hopefully be open to improvement. I think he has an each-way chance.
We finish off Tuesday with Now Is The Hour in the National Hunt Chase (5.20pm). he’s one who would prefer slower ground and, having walked the course, I’d say it’s on the good side of good to soft. The handicapper has been hard enough on him as well, so I’d put him down as more of an each-way chance.
The nature of the track shouldn’t be a problem for him, the drying ground is a concern though.
Good ground a concern for Inothewayurthinkin
Cromwell also offered an update on Gold Cup hopeful Inothewayurthinkin:
Inothewayurthinkin has been working very well at home to give us the confidence to supplement him for the Gold Cup.
We are a bit concerned with the ground, though. Having walked the track, I would love to see some more water put on it because if it continues to dry out then I’d be concerned about running him on it.
My first hope is that he can run, but if he does then I definitely think he’ll get closer to Galopin Des Champs once again. Whether he’s good enough to beat him I’m not sure, but he’s come on again from the Irish Gold Cup.
Having a run in the race will be good experience for him in the future, as long as it’s a good experience this year. If it is good ground we wouldn’t want to go jeopardising his future
