Course officials are predicting a bumper year and the building industry will do its bit as usual to keep the bookies happy and boost turnover in the town’s pubs and clubs.
Cheltenham is always awash with contractors – often led by the Irish contingent and their heroic punting.
Sadly the Enquirer won’t be there this year. The risk of getting stranded after one-too-many celebratory pints is too high when you’ve got a newsletter to get out each morning.
But that won’t stop us having a tilt at a few winners and let’s concentrate on the construction-sponsored races to keep the theme going.
First-up is Thursday’s Jewson Novices Chase. It’s only the second running of this race but I like the look of Cristal Bonus who seems to have a touch of class and can do the business at around 4/1.
Later that day is the Byrne Group plate where a few yards have dominated recently so we can make a fairly solid case for favourite Salut Flo at 9/2 to take the race for the Pipe stable.
Friday kicks-off with the JCB Triumph Hurdle which has been a favourites’ graveyard but Baby Mix is right-up there in the betting and our tip to pick-up the prize at 6/1.
Of course the big race is the Gold Cup and we’ve already tipped Long Run who could break a lot of hearts by beating Kauto Star up the hill.
We can build up our Cheltenham stack with a football punt following on from the 19/2 double tipped in last week’s column.
Spurs did us a favour by losing last week and we can repeat the trick by getting-on Everton to beat Tottenham at Goodison.
The Toffees look over-priced at 15/8 against a Spurs side who are rocking a bit and racking-up the injuries.
Hopefully Everton will give us a pre-festival boost and pay for a proper tilt at the bookies when the Cheltenham madness gets underway on Tuesday.
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Running Total for all 2012 bets to a £10 stake: +£135.00
