Saint Patrick’s Day arrives at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival on the Thursday, and punters are in for a treat with some great odds on The Ryanair World Hurdle that highlights the day along with The Ryanair Steeple Chase. This is the occasion the large Irish crowd will be celebrating, and is a great lead into what will be an eventful last day (which we preview here).
Last year’s World Hurdle threw up one of the biggest surprises horse racing has seen, with a four-way dead-heat at the finish. Like we said above, there are some great bets to be had on this race, with Annie Power the slight favourite with most bookmakers ahead of Value At Risk. The latter is a crowd favourite, and stole the show last year winning the Albert Bartlett in front of a raucous audience.
The horse that will be of interest to a lot of people, finishing third in the Champion Hurdle for two consecutive years, is The New One. Look out for a good bet there.
Regardless of which way you swing in the World event, there are lots of other races on Saint Patty’s day to enjoy. The main one outside the Champion Hurdle is of course The Ryanair Chase, where 2015 saw AP McCoy bow out of competitive racing with a stirring win to cap his 20 Champion Jockey crowns.
The day has plenty of other races of course, kicking off with The JLT Novices’ Chase (2 Miles and 4f), which is followed by The Pertemps Network Final (3 Miles), The Ryanair World Hurdle (3 Miles), The Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate (2 Miles and 5f) and The Trull House Stud Mares Novices’ Hurdle (2 Miles and 1f).
There’s no rest for the wicked after all of that, however, with the next and final day of Cheltenham 2016 being upon us!
