2016 Cheltenham Festival news: Annie Power to make Punchestown return

Festival not ruled out for L’ami Serge after shock defeat at Warwick

L’ami Serge lost his unbeaten record over fences when suffering a shock 11 lengthy defeat at the hands of Violet Dancer in the Kingmaker Novices’ Chase at Warwick, but trainer Nicky Henderson has stressed that his prospects on running at the Cheltenham Festival remain alive.

The Seven Barrows trainer reported the six-year-old to be “very perky” yesterday morning and was at a loss to explain his under-par display.

However, Henderson dismissed reports that L’Ami Serge would definitely miss the Racing Post Arkle Trophy on Tuesday, March 15th, for which he is now 1 14/1 chance having been 7/1 second-favourite before the Kingmaker.

L’ami Serge also holds an engagement in the JLT Novices’ Chase on Thursday, March 17th, and is out to 16/1 (from 10s) for that 2m 4f contest.

Henderson said: “The only thing I would emphasise is that we are not ruling the Arkle out, we are not ruling anything out.

“We scoped him at the races and he was 100 per cent clean. You wouldn’t know he’d been anywhere and this horse all week has been in fantastic form. We’ve got to sort it out, we’ve got to see where we are.”

Ballyandy cut for Champion Bumper glory

Ballyandy is now 10/1 co-favourite with Coral for the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival on Wednesday, March 16th, after making it three wins from four starts with an impressive success in a listed contest at Newbury.

The winner of his first two starts for trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies, the five-year-old lost little in defeat when second at Ascot and returned to winning ways with an runaway nine-length success despite having to concede weight to all of his rivals.

After travelling strongly throughout, Ballyandy took up the running rounding the home town and powered clear in the style of a very exciting prospect.

Having been 25/1 for the Champion Bumper heading into the race, Ballyandy was cut to 12/1 but that was quickly snapped up and he now shares favouritism with the Irish trained pair Aspen Colorado and Augusta Kate.

Twitson-Davies said: “I think he’s the one they’ll have to beat at Cheltenham. He’s won the races that are usually the best trials and when he was beaten at Ascot last time, he was giving weight away and then the winning rider had a claim on top of that.

“I said at the start of the season that he thought he was our best bumper horse and he’s always looked very talented..”

Unowhatimeanharry lands four-timer to secure Festival ticket

Unowhatimeanharry booked his place at the Cheltenham Festival by completing a four-timer in the manner of an ultra-progressive type when landing the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle qualifier at Exeter.

Trainer Harry Fry has the Pertemps Final and the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle under consideration for the eight-year-old, for which he he is now 12/1 (from 16s) and 14/1 (from 25s) respectively with Coral.

Unowhatimeanharry travelled strongly throughout and after taking up the running after the second last only had to be driven out to comfortably beat West Approach by 4 1/2 lengths, with the pair pulling 12 lengths clear of the third to give the form a solid look.

The winning handler said: “He won a Grade Two novice at Cheltenham in December but it wasn’t the strongest renewal of that race.

“On official ratings he’s still got quite a bit to find with the best novices in the Albert Bartlett.

“That’s why we came here to try to qualify and give ourselves another option.”

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Coral’s top tip: Back Annie Power to win the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival 2016.