Sean Bowen Cheltenham Day One Blog: ‘I’m confident I’ll get the better of him’

We are the third highest rated horse in the race behind State Man and Irish Point, and quite a few of the others have plenty to find on the ratings, so I’d be very hopeful we can make the frame at the very least. It could be a strongly run race as State Man likes to go forward, and Irish Point obviously has form over further, but my lad stays incredibly well too, so it will suit me if they go hard up front and I can just take a lead. He has made the running plenty of times, so if the pace isn’t as strong as anticipated, then I wouldn’t be afraid to go on and make it either.

It will be good fun to ride against James (Bowen) in a Champion Hurdle, and I’d say I’ll never hear the end of it if he beats me on Luccia. I don’t think there’s any danger of that though, and I’m very confident that I’ll be able get the better of him tomorrow afternoon!

16:50 Cheltenham – Roaring Legend

He’s very similar to Found On because he’s another who I’d say would have a chance on better ground, but my gut feeling is that the ground will be a bit too soft for him here. He’d shown good form when only a few lengths behind Liari at Musselburgh last month, but he was disappointing last time when we got beat at odds-on at Market Rasen, and he just didn’t get home on very soft ground that day.

This is always one of the most competitive handicaps of the week, so it’s going to be extremely difficult to win, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he ran a decent race and was able to come home in the first 5 or 6. Having said that, it also wouldn’t surprise me if he just found it all a bit competitive on this ground, so we’ll just be hoping he can cope with it and run a nice race.

Day 1 (Champion Day) betting tips

Day 2 (Style Wednesday) betting tips

Day 3 (St Patrick’s Thursday) betting tips

Day 4 (Gold Cup Day) betting tips

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