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WITH Ascot’s feature card called off on Thursday and the possibility of several other turf meetings set to go by the wayside it is quite difficult to know what to have an interest on this afternoon.

I will supply my naps and next best bets for the weekend below, but I thought that this was a real chance to instead look at some ante-post books for the Cheltenham Festival until the weather thaws through the back end of the weekend. So after several injuries in the past couple of weeks along with big shifts in the market place and even more to come following the Dublin Racing Festival at the beginning of February, here are my best each-way wagers in the current markets as they stand.

It has been taken for granted that Facile Vega will go for the Supreme Novices Hurdle for Willie Mullins and that his recent winner, Impaire Et Passe will go for the longer Ballymore Hurdle on day two.

That is the most likely route for both horses, but as soon as the bookmakers go non-runner, no bet for every race at the Festival, I shall be having a massive each-way bet on Facile Vega for the Ballymore. He is a horse that doesn’t really have a turn of foot in his races, but merely keeps on  galloping all the way through the line.

That would still make him of interest for the Supreme, but at a best price of 10/11 for that two mile event and as big as 14/1 for the longer contest, the investment here is an absolute no brainer. At the very least we will get our money back if he goes for the opening race of the famous meeting and if Mullins has a change of heart then we could be on at a massive price for the Ballymore. If he ran in that event I suspect he would usurp Hermes Allen as the market leader.

I still think that Vauban is the best each-way value for the Champion Hurdle following his promising Leopardstown run, but if Constitution Hill shows up in one piece and in prime form, he surely won’t be beaten in the day one feature. So, my second recommendation has to be Nube Negra at 33/1 for the Champion Chase.

Harry Skelton has given him some great rides in the past and he was unlucky not to land this race a couple of years ago. However, he has also been given some questionable rides as well, particularly in the 2021 Tingle Creek when he raced far too prominently and on ground that just didn’t suit him.

The bottom line is that this massive juggernaut of a nine-year-old needs three factors in his favour to run to his best form. Firstly, he is always going to be best on spring ground which helps with his jumping and to travel through a race. Secondly, he will arrive at this year’s Wednesday feature fresh following a break of three months, if Dan decides not to give him a warm-up, and thirdly Harry needs to have balls of steel and hold up his charge until the last possible moment to utilise his cracking turn of foot. If all those factors are fulfilled, then I cannot see him being out of the frame and at his current price that equates to a nice “winner.”

Horse number three is another left of centre selection at a double figure price, as are all of our ante-post plays at this stage.

The Turner Novices Chase gave us our biggest ever ante-post success when we backed Chantry House to win the year before at 33/1 with my doubts about Envoi Allen’s jumping and so it proved with the apparently next claim to Arkle fame horse falling early on. Jackpot landed!

I also feel that this year’s Irish favourite for the race, Mighty Potter, although not as short in the betting is another vulnerable Irish charge and the one I want to oppose him with at around 20/1 is the Nicky Henderson trained Bold Endeavour who only moved to the Seven Barrows’ maestro just before the turn of the year. Since then he has romped home in a two-and-a-half mile handicap chase at Leicester off a mark of 130 and then followed up at Doncaster off 139, readily seeing off his rivals by seven lengths and more.

Yes, he needs to take another significant step forward again to even reach the frame, but his sure footed jumping and front running style could make him a massive player here as long as he gets the spring ground which seems to suit him best of all.

Our final ante-post play at this stage at a big price comes in the Stayers Hurdle on the Thursday and again relies on non-runner, no bet offer which incidentally is available now with most layers in this event. Maries Rock, last year’s Mares Hurdle winner, is much more likely to defend her crown on the opening day. However, with the winner of the last two renewals of the Stayers Hurdle, Flooring Porter, very doubtful, it wouldn’t surprise me if Nicky Henderson and connections had a huge change of mind.

Winning the three miler is a much bigger prize than the Mares event and with Home By The Lee the new favourite, I think that it is eminently winnable. Despite being free enough throughout the race, I loved that way that the mare ran through the line to beat the boys in the extended two-and-a-half mile Relkeel Hurdle on New Year’s Day when she absolutely annihilated the more than useful Dashel Drasher by six lengths, with First Street a further neck away third and the classy Knappers Hill well and truly trailing in her wake some 14.25 lengths back in fourth spot. 

For me that was the most impressive Stayers Hurdle Trial of the season and as with our first bet, the worst case scenario is that we will get our stakes back, but if connections have a change of mind we will be on at 20/1 with a mare I would expect to start at around 2/1 favourite.