Dave Nevison's Cheltenham tips: a 100-1 selection on day two!

The Bet MGM Champion chase looks to provide a very good opportunity for the big hitters on short priced horses to have their moment of the Festival. Majborough only has to do what he did in Dublin last time to win this and likely will do so. However the only time his jumping which hasn’t been foot perfect on occasions, has really let him down came in last year’s Arkle so I may well just watch rather than get involved. 

Storm Heart went off favourite for the JCB Triumph Hurdle in 2024, and maybe disappointed his followers in only managing fifth behind Majborough.

However, I think that was one of the best renewals of the Triumph Hurdle in recent seasons, and I believe he could be rated higher. 

The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old has been relatively lightly-raced since, but has won both his starts this season in non-handicap contests, and won a Grade Three event at Gowran Park more comfortably than the winning margin suggests last time out. 

Storm Heart has only ever run in one handicap and was an excellent second in a big field at last year's Dublin Racing Festival, so this sort of contest holds no fears for him. 

He has won on good ground on the flat and has always looked like he will be suited by this sort of trip. He looks to be a Graded horse pitched in against handicappers here. 

I found myself going dizzy trying to sort out which of the Gavin Cromwell, or Gordon Elliott-trained, runners would fare best in this Cross Country Chase. I eventually settled on one that might sneak into a place at a massive price, and is available at 100-1, at the time of writing.

The back form is there for Horantzou D’Airy as he finished second in the Munster National, and the Kerry National, off higher marks when he was with Willie Mullins, and after being purchased to run in the Grand National at Aintree, which he actually did perform well in before his stamina gave way, he has finished second in a good race at Uttoxeter. 

He has had two trainers already since leaving Mullins, and his past two outings have clearly been disappointing, but he is making his debut for Stuart Edmunds here, a trainer who is no stranger to having horses run well at big odds at this track. 

In a type of race that I don’t often get involved in, I am happy to side with a big outsider to outrun his odds. 

Jasko Des Dames was a big drifter and ran disappointingly at the Dublin Racing Festival in February, but I am more than happy to ignore that run, and regard it as a pipe-opener for this contest.

Henry De Bromhead’s chaser finished a good fifth behind Jazzy Matty in last year’s renewal and is 3lb better off with the winner, which wouldn’t technically be enough to reverse the form, but things didn’t go that well for him in the closing stages there, and I believe he could well improve on that effort.

He proved that he likes Cheltenham once more when second to Calico in the Autumn, and is much better off with that rival today. This has clearly been the target, and I expect another strong run in this ultra-competitive handicap chase.