The excitement ahead of this year’s Cheltenham Festival continues to grow and the weekend’s action at Ascot, Haydock and Leopardstown has had a huge impact on the Festival’s antepost markets.
While races like the Champion Hurdle and RSA Chase continue to baffle exchange punters, one thing can be certain; Paul Nicholls has a very strong grip on the Queen Mother Champion Chase market.
Current champion Master Minded will be in search of a hat-trick in the race and supporters of the superstar will be hoping that he will recover from injury to tackle the Grade 1 showpiece. Trainer Paul Nicholls has continuously warned antepost gamblers that the former ‘best chaser in the world’ is far from certain to recover in time for Cheltenham and while he is working overtime to prepare him for March, there will be no rushing the horse into action if he is not ready.
It is testament to the ability of Master Minded that despite his injury worries he remains a clear favourite for the race, trading at odds of 2.68 on the magic machine. Indeed, such is the popularity of Nicholls’ chaser, he has been responsible for over 50% of the money traded on the event, demanding £100,000 worth of attention in a market that has seen just under £200,000 gambled.
Matched at a low of 1.80 (4/5) for the hat-trick, punters who managed to back the superstar at odds of 4.80 will be hoping that he can get to jumping HQ in one piece. If he manages to do that, it is hard to envisage anything coming close to beating him, even after Twist Magic’s impressive victory in the Victor Chandler Chase on Saturday.
Hugely talented and equally quirky, Twist Magic is now a 7.00 second favourite for the Champion Chase, a price that has coming crashing down since his two high profile Grade 1 victories this season. If Master Minded were injured come March, Twist Magic would surely be Paul Nicholls’ stable number one for the race and the lucky punter who got £2 on the star at odds of 170.00 will be hoping it is with reason.
Twist Magic’s abysmal record at Cheltenham offers hopes to his rivals and along with Master Minded’s injury woes, Paul Nicholls may have a firm grip on the race in the betting, but it remains wide open in reality.
Forpadydeplasterer (10.00) and Kalahari King (11.00) are next in the betting and antepost punters will be looking at them as an alternative option should Nicholls’ duo head to Cheltenham.
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