Cheltenham Festival markets all shook up

They call it Super Saturday and what a Saturday it was!

Some cracking racing was on view, with some breath-taking performances. Unfortunately, I was unable to select a winning wager on the day. My wagers were solely on the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury where my selections ran unplaced with Cash And Go coming home 7th with Princeton Plains in 8th. I was most disappointed with Princeton Plains as this time he was held-up and he probably would have been in the 1st-5 (and earned the place money) had he been more prominently ridden as he was making ground up in the final half mile. The performance of this race tho. was from the winner MY TENT OR YOURS who won with what looked to be nearly a stone in hand. There was plenty of support all week for this horse, and my friends in Ireland even emailed me about the chance he held, so confidence was clearly high - and it was justified. The odds of 9/4 (Paddy Power) about him winning the Supreme Novices Hurdle look good in my opinion, tho' this year looks like it could be a vintage year for the novice hurdlers.

I managed to talk myself out of nominating WISHFUL THINKING as a selection yesterday as I thought the trip may be on the short side for him, despite being the best horse on ratings in the race. When I was watching the racing yesterday, just before the off his odds on Betfair touched 6.0 - 6.2 (or 5/1) and I had a tenner on for old-times-sake.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup market was giving a shake-up with SILVINIACO CONTI winning the Denman Chase at Newbury in some style, and then over in Ireland SIR DES CHAMPS confirming his superiority over Flemenstar at 3-mile in the Hennessey Gold Cup at Leopardstown. After yesterday, I am surprised that Bobs Worth is still the favorite for the Gold Cup at 3/1 as, on strict interpretation of the form from his win in the Hennessey handicap at Newbury, he wasn't the best horse in that race, TIDAL BAY was. The horse I was disappointed with was Weird Al in the Denman as, for a horse who was just 7-lengths behind Silviniaco Conti in the Betfair Chase at Haydock last November, he should have been in the 1st-3 yesterday. Maybe his issue is the Newbury course and not the ground, as he's coped well on soft ground before yesterday winning on it on 4 occasions. Weird Al ran poorly at Newbury on his previous visit there for the 2010 Hennessey won by Diamond Harry and, yesterday, was a similar poor performance.

I'm spending the rest of today writing the last of my Cheltenham Festival Bulletin which should be ready next Sunday. I was hoping to have it ready early enough to have the bulletin printed locally, but I think I am going to have to rely on a pdf version emailed to purchasers, the same as last year.
All the best from Wayward Lad