Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Cheltenham Festival Day Three preview
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell talks through his runners for the third day of the Cheltenham Festival.
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Thursday, Cheltenham
We start off on Thursday with one of our best chances of the week with Sixandahalf in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (1.20pm). She’s travelled across well and we’re really happy with her. This is a race that has thrown up big-priced winners in the past, but hopefully that won’t be the case this year!
The ground should be ideal for her – she’s able to go on any ground really. She’s very straightforward and, although she’s only had one run over hurdles, she’s got plenty of experience on the Flat and we’re happy with her jumping. We’ll try to keep things simple, and she’ll be ridden handy enough.
We’ve decided to go for the Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase (2.00pm) with The Other Mozzie. I thought the Grand Annual might just be on the sharp side for his jumping, so I thought we’d try him over the 2m4½f trip instead.
His last win was over two miles but in testing conditions at Naas where they went quite slow. It looks a good race with a few Grade One horses running in a handicap, so it won’t be simple. That said, he’s off a nice mark with Conor Stone-Walsh good value for his three-pound claim. Hopefully, he can run well.
Will The Wise runs in the Pertemps Final (2.40pm) having only won a qualifier a couple of weeks ago, for which he went up a fair bit in the handicap. This is a quick turnaround and I’m not sure how well-handicapped he is. He’ll need to improve from his last run but hasn’t had much time to do so. He’ll be suited to the better ground so hopefully that’ll help him.
We have two runners in the Plate (4.40pm) with Thecompanysergeant and Path d’Oroux.
Path d’Oroux is in good form and he’s travelled over well. He’s one who’ll travel into the race very well, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll stay the 2m4½f trip. He’d appreciate the nicer ground which should help his chances.
Thecompanysergeant seems in great form. He hasn’t run over fences for us yet, he’s just had a run over hurdles, but we’re happy with him. If he gets a clear passage, he should have a chance. He has his own technique for jumping the fences, but it seems effective, and he should be fine.
We finish off Thursday with two runners in the Kim Muir (5.20pm) and Mint Boy is one who I think could be good value. He is less exposed in handicaps, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s well-in. He’s got a good jockey on board in Barry O’Neill, and he should have a chance.
Yeah Man is pretty exposed to the handicapper but at the same time he’s consistent. He’s got a big weight to carry which is a burden, but he should run well again and have an each-way chance.
