The entire National Hunt season is geared towards one four-day meeting in March; the Cheltenham Festival. We’re now just a month away from the big event and the closer it gets, the more the excitement builds.
Plenty of the big names will be fighting it out for the top prizes at Cheltenham but the smaller trainers also get opportunities to land a winner or two and it’s a good strategy for punters to unearth bigger Cheltenham odds.
County Limerick-based trainer Charles Byrnes will be hoping to get on the board so we’re taking a look at his best hopes for this year’s Prestbury Park bonanza.
By Liam Bramall
I Started A Joke
I Started A Joke is 50/1 to win the Turners Novices’ Hurdle but he might be better suited to some of the handicap options. He’s currently the market leader for the Coral Cup at 12/1 and the seven-year-old is an intriguing candidate for that race.
Fourth on his only start in a point-to-point at Belclare, he produced a much improved performance to win a Limerick bumper on his debut under rules.
Byrnes’ gelding came out on top by a nose that day and runner-up Road Exile has boosted the form a couple of times since. Far from disgraced when upped in Grade at Leopardstown next time, I Started A Joke kept on to finish sixth, despite getting a little outpaced.
Things didn’t quite go to plan in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham next time but that’s not a concern, as the form has worked out particularly well since. He started off over hurdles in maiden company at Listowel in September, where he was a well beaten fourth.
Road Exile then got his revenge at Navan in December and that form has also been boosted a couple of times since. Subsequent Grade 1 third King Rasko Grey was the winner of his next start and the runner-up has also won since.
Progressing well to get off the mark at Punchestown on his penultimate start, I Started A Joke kept on strongly to get the better of Springhill Warrior by eight-and-a-half lengths.
A switch to handicaps was next on the agenda and he ran a nice race to finish second at the Dublin Racing Festival. That was a thoroughly competitive race and there was lots to like about the performance, especially as it was his first start in handicap company.
Winner Bowensonfire had much more experience but I Started A Joke kept on well and travelled strongly throughout. If he can do that at Cheltenham, there’s every chance of a big run, as the ability to travel through a race is key to success in Cheltenham Festival handicaps.
Going up in trip could help to unlock more potential, as he didn’t quite have the pace to close down the winner at Leopardstown. That run was probably enough to get him a high enough mark in order to get in and you can all but guarantee a career-best effort.
Also prominent in the betting for the Supreme, the stiffer test of stamina might be enough for him, although you would imagine he’d be vulnerable to speedier types. Handicaps are definitely the right way to go and it would be wise to keep an eye on the markets.
