Cheltenham racecourse are opening their gates this weekend as they welcome racegoers to the November Meeting, which includes prestigious feature races such as The Schloer Chase, The Paddy Power Gold Cup, and the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle.
The Schloer Chase is the highlight of the Friday, and has produced classy winners such as Jonbon and last year’s winner L’eau du Sud, who will unfortunately miss the rest of the season due to an injury.
Two-time winner Jonbon is back again and is looking to get his hat-trick whilst also protecting his record of never finishing outside of the first two. The 10-year old will be up against a small field including JPR One, who was victorious at the Showcase Meeting on his seasonal reappearance off of top weight, however having ran at Aintree last weekend it seems this race might come just too soon for the Cheltenham favourite.
Calico is another horse with a chance trained by Dan Skelton and will definitely come on for the run after finishing two and a half lengths behind JPR One in October.
If Jonbon can shake his Cheltenham ‘voodoo’ then the Nicky Henderson gelding should take all the beating under Nico de Boinville at odds of 5/6.
The Paddy Power Gold Cup is arguably the highlight of the weekend, a race over 2m 4f that currently has 19 runners including Cheltenham Festival winner Meetmebythesea trained by Ben Pauling, the classy Madara who also won at Cheltenham in March, as did J.P Mcmanus owned Johnnywho.
Meetmebythesea’s form rightly places him as the favourite currently priced at 7/2, however the Skelton’s know how to campaign a horse correctly, and with the chaser already having a run under the belt at Carlisle it would be no surprise if the Skelton’s were in the winners enclosure once again having done so last year with Panic Attack in the same colours.
July Flower is worth a mention at 12/1, having won the Paddy Power Arkle Trophy last year for Henry de Bromhead, although he hasn’t won since and ran lackadaisically at the festival this year.
The Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle is an interesting race and looks the most open of the three, as you could pick holes in any of the horses entered.
Idaho Sun is current favourite at a price of 3/1, and has the best form of the bunch by beating hot favourite and Supreme runner up mydaddypaddy at Aintree on Boxing Day.
The downside with him is he hasn’t ran since, and will likely need the run having missed 342 days off the track despite being the joint highest rated horse in the race at 142.
The Kemble Brewery looks a very interesting horse. The Kim Bailey and Matt Nicholls trained seven-year old has course form, when he won at this meeting three years ago and has won his last two races by five lengths or more.
Also rated 142, race fitness on his side and at a price of 16/1 looks too good to leave alone.
Henderson trained Iberico Lord could be an outside shout at 33/1, as Nico de Boinville saddled him when he won this race in 2023, and has gone onto win the Betfair Hurdle in 2024 and most recently the Coral Handicap Hurdle under James Bowen earlier this year.
Superstar Supreme winner Old Park Star and the well thought of chaser Kabral du Mathan are both potentially running dependant on the ground, as it is currently good to soft (good in places). These horses need softer ground in order to perform, and if they don’t find it then trainers Henderson and Skelton respectively will have to find new targets for their stable stars.
