Day 3 At Cheltenham 2016: Let’s Celebrate St Paddy’s Day In Style

After beginning the week in style on Tuesday, yesterday was a far more difficult day to predict at the races as bookmakers recovered well. However, we still managed to break even with our three tips, while we also pointed you towards a winner in the first too.

St Patrick’s Day at Cheltenham should provide plenty of thrills and spills throughout the afternoon. New Paddy Power customers can get the fun started with enhanced odds of 5/1 on Vautour to win the RyanAir Chase, which is boosted from an odds-on price of around 5/6. Meanwhile, SkyBet are amongst the bookies offering a free bet refund (max £25) on losing selections in the JLT Novices’ Chase.

There’s certainly plenty to get excited and you can watch the coverage via bookmaker websites, as well as Channel 4. Let’s hope the luck of the Irish can increase our weekly profits.

Back More Delight For Ruby & Mullins

After narrowly missing out on Ladies Day as Un De Sceaux lost out to an incredible ride by Sprinter Sacre, Ruby Walsh will be determined to register Cheltenham win No.50 on Thursday. We’re not only backing the Irishman to reach that milestone on St Patrick’s Day; we’re backing him to hit No.51 too.

There’s every chance that the Walsh-Willie Mullins partnership will come good in the day’s opener. But if it doesn’t, then win the landmark win should come RyanAir Chase as Walsh is aboard the odds-on favourite. After being entered into this race, following an initial declaration that it would be the Gold Cup or nothing, the seven-year-old should steamroller its way to success. It’s certainly not a banker like Douvan was, but it would be a shock if Walsh fails to ride a winner.

Our second leg of this double comes in 16:50 Mare’s Novices Hurdle, and we’re backing Walsh to ride another favourite to victory aboard Limini. A lot of punters will probably see the 7/1 shot of Small Talk as great value, but we’re hoping that Ruby’s Cheltenham charm will serve us well once more.

Two short prices, but both horses have a fantastic chance of winning. Profit is profit.

If In Doubt… Back The Insurance

From a betting perspective, race 2 is an attractive prospect with bags of value to be had. We think the standout bet comes by backing If In Doubt.

The 8-year-old gelding certainly has the stamina to feature, and we’d be happy to back it to pip Cup Final and Missed Approach. At 15/2 with the potential of a refund for a place, which it has done in nearly 60% of its lifetime races, we simply cannot refuse a punt.

Elsewhere On Day 3

Thursday’s opener will have all eyes on Ruby as he looks to rack up that 50th win, but it’s a race that could be won by anyone. We’ll be using our SkyBet offer to back Bryan Cooper on Outlander at 5s. However, the day’s big excitement comes in the 15:30 World Hurdle.

It’s hard to look past the favourite for the win and if Thistlecrack get going, then it should coast to victory. Take that out of the equation, though, and last year’s winner is a great shout. Gavin Sheehan is back on Cole Harden after winning last year’s event, and could well be amongst the frontrunners once more. Let’s hope so.