Cheltenham Festival ante-post tips: Cork makes appeal at 16-1

Dan Skelton has won three of the past six renewals of the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and looks set to hold strong claims of landing the race for the fourth time with WEST CORK this year.

The Alcester handler performed one of the training performances of the season so far when his eight-year-old returned from a 631-day break to win the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in November, the form of which has worked out well.

Tritonic, who finished fifth in that two-mile contest, landed the Betfair Exchange Trophy on his next start and the sixth-home, Glory And Fortune, finished second to Epatante in the Christmas Hurdle last time out (he failed to stay 2m4f in-between those two starts).

Marie’s Rock (seventh) has also scored since and while West Cork failed to sparkle behind Tritonic at Ascot in December, he did have excuses for his below-par run.

Having travelled strongly until the turn for home, he weakened quickly under pressure and it was reported that he suffered an overreach, which was probably the main reason behind his disappointing effort, as well as the dreaded bounce factor.

Skelton has already advised that West Cork will head straight to the Cheltenham Festival and contest the County Hurdle, which looks significant given his record in the valuable handicap.

His first strings in the race over the past six years have been sent off at no bigger than 12-1, and unless Skelton unleashes a handicap blot over the coming weeks, it is likely West Cork will be his leading candidate this year.

It is a wise move by Skelton to protect West Cork's handicap mark ahead of March, especially as Superb Story followed a similar path prior to his victory in the 2016 County Hurdle for Skelton as he was also sent straight to the Festival after contesting the Greatwood Hurdle. Stablemates Mohaayed and Ch'tibello were also kept fresh ahead of their victories in 2018 and 2019.

Skelton has said he believes West Cork is Graded standard, and if his assumptions are correct, then a career-high rating of 141, which is 7lb higher than his Greatwood victory, should not pose a problem for a horse who remains with bundles of potential having only had seven starts.

The lack of a recent run ahead of the Cheltenham Festival will not be a disadvantage as we know he is capable of producing his best following a break, and the switch to the New Course should not be an issue, either.

The form of his efforts in novice hurdles a couple of seasons ago is strong and I expect the selection, who does not appear ground dependant, will be sent off much shorter than 16-1 on the day.