The 2021 Cheltenham Festival: Dave Nevison's three best bets for day two

The second day of the Festival is a tough one as I am finding it very difficult to oppose the good things. The Cross Country and the Bumper have never been massive betting races for me and look like a ‘good thing’ and a coin toss respectively.

I am on Monkfish at a good price, so I will definitely be cheering him home now he is odds on. The Ballymore has three last-time out Grade One winners with almost identical and impressive profiles. That makes it a very exciting race to watch, but I don’t have a three-sided coin and seven runners makes each-way betting a non-starter.

It seems pretty clear now that this horse is not going to make the grade over fences, and Nicky Henderson has done the right thing in bringing him back to this event for the second year running.

Birchdale still looks as though he could be unexposed over hurdles given his several abortive attempts at chasing and, taking just those runs into consideration, he might appear to have much more potential upside than several of his rivals.

He ran really well off a 2lb higher mark in this last year after a three-month break, eventually beaten just 10 lengths into eighth place having gone wide throughout and making a mess of the last. The switch back to hurdling doesn’t always work, but he showed his wellbeing in a ‘Jumpers’ Bumper’ last time and is one of few here who may be well-handicapped.

When he was beaten by the excellent A Plus Tard on his reappearance last season it was his lack of a recent run that was given for the defeat, and he has had this campaign spaced out with regular runs in Grade One and Grade Two chases. In my view, he has been more impressive in each one.

I watched the race between First Flow and Politologue last time and cannot believe such a slog would not have left its mark.

There are some extremely good two-milers in this race, but few look to have room for improvement and, if anything, Chacun Pour Soi may well demonstrate he has more to give. He looks a banker - possibly of the meeting - but like many is priced accordingly.

He will be one of the outsiders, has definitely not shown his best form for a while and could well be regarded as badly handicapped on his overall form. However, I would put him somewhere near favourite on his two Cheltenham Festival runs over fences and he would not be the first horse to reserve his best for this place in March.

He ran second in the Arkle and could have been closer if ridden more positively, while in this race last year he finished an excellent third and just in front of subsequent Grade Two winner Greaneteen. He didn’t enjoy the best of runs in that race either, dropping out mid-race and then being forced to challenge wide.

He has had a four-month break since his latest disappointment and I am obviously taking a chance here, but he is in particularly good hands and lower in the weights. It hardly seems likely he is running here in preparation for something else.