CHELTENHAM. Even now, five months away from THE Festival and those madcap four days in Gloucestershire, the very word gives me goosebumps. But the rollercoaster of a racecourse has plenty of serious business to attend to before then, starting with its two-day Showcase meeting next weekend. This meeting has grown in stature in recent years and usually attracts a strong raiding party from across the Irish Sea. Punters should check out the best internet betting services offered by bookmakers.
Friday’s card could see Weatherbys Champion Bumper winner Ballyandy try to break hs hurdling duck in either the two-mile Harrison James & Hardie Maiden Hurdle or the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle over five furlongs further. He was touched off in a thrilling duel with Moon Racer at Perth last month but is likely to go one better this time. It would be no surprise if he and Moon Racer are serious contenders for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in March.
Next Sensation, winner of the 2015 Grand Annual Chase at the Festival, could return to Prestbury Park next week for the £50,000 Randox Health Handicap Chase over two miles on the Saturday of the Showcase meeting. The bold front runner failed to build on that victory last season, including three attempts at two-and-a-half miles, but returned to form last time out with a battling success in a two-mile handicap chase at Newton Abbot.
Trainer Michael Scudamore said: “He has come out of Newton Abbot really well. For whatever reason last season he seemed his normal self at home but each time he got to the track he was lack-lustre. He just didn’t have his usual zip and spark. Luckily, he has come back to a bit form and was a bit unlucky at Cartmel [where he fell three fences out] before winning at Newton Abbot. I am just hoping that the recent win will give him the confidence to kick on again.”
Randox Health also sponsor the other feature of The Showcase, the £50,000 Randox Handicap Chase over three miles and a furlong. Other highlights include £35,000 Masterson Holdings Hurdle and the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle, the first in a series of qualifiers for the Pertemps Network Final at The Festival in March.
There are seven races each day, with the first due off at 2.10pm on the Friday (October 21) and 1.50pm on the Saturday.
Away from the action on the track, racegoers will have the opportunity to go behind the scenes at the Home of Jump Racing with guided tours of the parade ring and weighing room before racing. The food and drink showcase, introduced for the first time in 2014, returns to The Centaur to show off all that is great about produce from the Cotswolds.
The Showcase, the first racing at Cheltenham in the 2016/2017 Jump season, is followed by The Open, from November 11 to 13 inclusive, where the highlight is the BetVictor Gold Cup, and The International on December 9 and 10. Accompanied children aged 18 and under gain FREE entry to the racecourse except during The Festival in March.
