Cheltenham Festival 2024 Coral Cup ante post tip

Cheltenham ante-post tip:

Under Control to win the Coral Cup - 14/1 NRNB with bet365

Another intriguing weekend has passed us by and we are now only four weeks away from the pinnacle of National Hunt racing at Prestbury Park.

We lost some meetings over the weekend with the inclement weather, but we received more than a few pointers for the Cheltenham Festival odds from the races that survived.

Shishkin looks completely reinvigorated, which is great to see, and he took the Denman Chase comfortably on Saturday at Newbury. 

His jumping was only adequate - he got very lazy after he took it up four out - but he showed he is more than worthy of a place in the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup markets on UK betting sites. 

He can perform better than this and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a small bit of improvement to come in four weeks' time.

Having said all that, he is definitely not for me in a Gold Cup with his jumping issues and his age isn’t ideal being a 10-year-old. 

Cool Dawn is the last horse of that age to win this race and that was back in 1998. 

Cheltenham isn’t everything though and it is great to see him performing to this level, particularly after refusing to race earlier this year. 

When a horse starts to go rogue and decides that they won’t start a race it can become a habit, but Nicky Henderson and his team deserve huge credit for getting him back on song.

Also on Saturday, Edwardstone bounced back and definitely holds a place chance in the Queen Mother at Cheltenham. 

At Naas, Allegorie De Vassy showed she is still a very capable challenger to Dinoblue, the favourite in the Mares Chase according to betting apps.

Eagle Fang was the winner of the opener on the same card, a noteworthy performance given that this is a race which has mostly produced the winner of the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle over the last 50 years or so with the last five winners having come from this race.

On Sunday, Brighterdaysahead was flawless in a race which should tee her up beautifully for the 2024 Mares Novices’ Hurdle. 

The 2024 renewal looks red hot, but I am still happy to be with the favourite, Jade De Grugy. This race has been a much-maligned addition to the festival, but it does look to be an absolute cracker this season with Dysart Enos adding further competition to the aforementioned duo.

Also at Naas, Hiddenvalley Lake took the Boyne Hurdle but won’t be going to Cheltenham it seems, whilst in the Ten Up Novices’ Chase, American Mike took the honours from Nick Rockett and Minella Cocooner.

Last week I expressed my concerns about Willie Mullins dominating Irish racing, but apart from Fact To File I am not sure he has a whole lot in the Novice Chase division. There may be some hope here for his competitors.

Betfair Hurdle 2024

I firmly believe there is a very strong form line after watching the 2024 Betfair Hurdle.

The race itself was typically frenetic and enthralling, with Iberico Lord continuing his rapid progression when seeing off L'Eau Du Sud in a manner that was far more comfortable than the two and three quarter length winning margin suggests.

Before I discuss this form line, I want to give Nico de Boinville a mention as he really is riding outstandingly well at the moment. He was so cool here and brought Iberico Lord through at the perfect time, and is a jockey at the peak of his powers. 

Saturday’s form really brings Under Control into the “well handicapped” category. She beat Iberico Lord stylishly last season at Sandown when she was only four years old and that is very strong form. 

She did that off a 10-pound lower mark that day where she raced off the same weight as Iberico Lord. He won on Saturday off a 14-pound higher mark, so based on crude maths alone, she looks to be on a very workable mark.

First time this season she travelled sweetly but dropped out tamely and immediately went for a breathing operation, and then last time showed plenty of her old spark when staying on doggedly behind the very talented Ashroe Diamond. 

Under Control looked very comfortable in her skin that day and was handled delicately by Mark Walsh. There should be plenty of improvement to come.

I am going to take a swing on her appearing in the Coral Cup and she would go off much shorter than the current 14/1 no runner no bet price you can get at bet365.

The fact is that JP McManus and Henderson look to have some very strong handicap hurdlers to fire at Cheltenham. 

Iberico Lord will take his chance in the County Hurdle, for which he's now favourite, as he has never gone much beyond two miles. 

The manner in which he won on Saturday could mean that he is still well handicapped off a revised mark and is a horse to take heed of when you're looking at the latest Cheltenham betting offers.

No Ordinary Joe should go very close in a Martin Pipe off only one pound lower than when he ran a huge race in second last year behind the vastly talented Iroko, who looks to be Grade One standard. 

This leaves the Coral Cup open for Under Control and she showed that she can thrive over this distance in France when she won a race over 2m3f, so this trip wouldn’t be overly tough for her.

She seems to go on any ground, is very well handicapped and if she were to appear here then she could well go off at 5/1 or so on horse racing betting sites, like Dame De Compagnie did when winning this race for the same connections back in 2020. 

I think Under Control is much, much better than a mark of 138. The 14/1 NRNB with bet365 is just too interesting for me to ignore.