Bayan the dark horse for a Festival Handicap

Irish trainer Gordon Elliott is never a man to be underestimated when it comes to the big handicaps, and he looks to have several contenders to go to war with at the Cheltenham Festival.

The most interesting of those could be Bayan who holds entries in the Coral Cup and the County Hurdle.

The five-year-old has won four of his eight starts over hurdles, showing progressive form on each occasion.

He arguably put up his best performance in defeat last time out over hurdles in a 2m1f contest at Cheltenham when going down by just a 1/4 of a length to Sametegal in a driving finish off a handicap mark of 148.

The gelding cruised into contention three from home, but then made a bad mistake at the second last which cost him ground at a vital stage.

However, he quickly recovered and after being 2 lengths down jumping the last produced a strong challenge before being unable to find any extra in the shadow of the post.

Since then he has won a 2m charity race at Fairyhouse as his final “prep run” ahead of the Festival, and looks to have been given a big chance by the handicapper who has dropped him 3lb to a mark of 135.

He is now set to meet Sametegal on 8lb better terms in the choice of his engagements, and is likely to creep in at the foot of the weights as he is currently 54th in the entries for the Coral Cup and 48th in the County Hurdle.

With his best run at Cheltenham coming over 2m 1f, the County Hurdle over the same distance would seem the more obvious target and he is currently a 25/1 shot for that race with Coral.

However, Elliott’s first Festival success came with Carlito Brigante in the 2m 5f Coral Cup in 2011 so he clearly knows what is required to win that contest.

Bayan is with 12/1 with the sponsors for the Coral Cup, and with connections still keeping their options open you can back him in both races safe in the knowledge that your will get your money back for the one he doesn’t run in as Coral are now Non Runner No Bet on all races at the Festival.