1.40 MASTER ACCOUNTS fared best of the quintet who contested the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham last month, and is taken to do so once again. De Charnie, who collected at 50-1 on the opening race of Gold Cup Day, is absent but his immediate pursuers – Maestro Conti, Minella Study and Selma De Vary – are in attendance.
A length and a half behind the winner, Maestro Conti nailed Minella Study by a short head for second with Selma De Vary, hemmed in by the runner-up approaching the final obstacle, a length and three-quarters away in third. Wolf Rayet completed in eighth, while Indian River finished 10th.
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Prior to that defeat, French native Maestro Conti had scored at Moulins in his homeland before a nine-and-a-half-length winning debut for Dan and Harry Skelton at Kempton Park over Christmas.
Maestro Conti had then set himself up for the National Hunt Festival with a two-length beating of One Horse Town in a Grade 2 test for juveniles on Cheltenham’s Trials Day card in January.
The chestnut travelled strongly in the Triumph before rolling up his sleeves when asked for an effort, and those twin attributes will stand him in good stead here. Minella Study and Selma De Vary are the obvious candidates for the podium, ahead of Eat Everything and Winston Junior .
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 MAESTRO CONTI, 2 MINELLA STUDY, 3 SELMA DE VARY
2.20 COCKTAIL DIVIN will be more effective back at two and a half miles and is expected to give hot favourite Cooking plenty to think about.
A few eyebrows were raised when Henry de Bromhead opted to send the six-year-old for the Grade 1 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham in preference to the Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase, for which he had been a leading fancy.
In the event, the three-mile, one-furlong trip stretched Darragh O’Keeffe’s mount, who tracked the pace before fading on the climb to the finishing post to finish sixth behind Kitzbuhel.
On his previous start, Koktail Divin had run out the impressive winner of a two-and-a-half-mile beginners’ chase at Leopardstown over Christmas, making all the running to slam Kiss Will by 21 lengths.
He has plenty more to offer at this intermediate distance and, if O’Keeffe opts to go forward, will take some pegging back.
Conversely, Lulamba looks ripe for the step up in distance after a one-paced third, not helping his cause by breasting the second-last fence, behind Kargese – Jax Junior was 18 lengths back in fourth – in the two-mile Arkle Challenge Trophy.
The market leader isn’t passed over lightly, with Mambonumberfivewho skipped Cheltenham after a defeat at Warwick in February, the choice for the bronze.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 DIVINE COCKTAIL, 2 LULAMBA, 3 MAMBONUMBERFIVE
2.55 PROTECTORATE remains a force to be reckoned with, despite his advancing years, and is the value call against hotpot Eat Yes.
Dan Skelton decided not to send his stable stalwart to Cheltenham for the Ryanair Chase, a race he won two years ago, and instead took in the Premier Chase over an extended two miles and seven furlongs at Kelso at the end of February.
The 11-year-old went off at 1-12 for the Listed test and those seeking to chisel out 8.33 per cent on their investment duly drew, but only after Harry Skelton and Protektorat had survived a howler at the penultimate fence to come home eight and a half lengths to the good of Minella Drama.
The £35,236 on offer to the winner in the Scottish Borders put Protektorat on Millionaires’ Row, adding to a £85,849.50 booty for landing Windsor’s Fleur de Lys Chase the previous month.
Today’s three-mile, one-furlong trip should hold no fears – my selection won the Grade 2 Many Clouds Chase over course and distance by 25 lengths in December 2021 – and Protektorat arrives on Merseyside a fresh horse.
Jango Baie has finished a close fourth in Kempton Park’s King George VI Chase and second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup since tackling three miles and beyond, has to be feared.
He’s also 11 and the outsider of the quintet but Pic D’Orhy will put it up to Odd And Pass and Spillane’s Tower for the final podium place.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 PROTEKTORAT, 2 JANGO BAIE, 3 PIC D’ORHY
3.30 GRACCHUS DE BALME sprang a 22-1 shock in 2025 and shouldn’t be underestimated in the defence of his crown.
Twelve months ago, most punters ignored Joe O’Shea’s 10-year-old as the result of a disappointing run – he was pulled up as the 5-4 favourite for a hunter chase at Leicester – on his previous outing.
But they were made to pay as Gracchus De Balme stormed home to account for Jet Plane by one length.
Many will do so again after he was pulled up in Cheltenham’s Princess Royal Challenge Cup Hunters’ Chase won by stablemate Barton Snow from 2024 Aintree Foxhunters’ Chase hero Its On The Line.
But a two-mile, five-furlong hunter chase over the Grand National fences attracts race specialists – four horses, including Katarino (2005 & 2006) and On The Fringe (2015 & 2016) this century, have emerged as multiple winners in the past 50 years.
And Gracchus De Balme, whose rider Pa King won the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at Cheltenham on Angels Dawn three years ago, can add his name to the list. Cheltenham third Music Drive is also in the mix, along with Unexpected Party and Thunder Rock.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 GRACCHUS DE BALME, 2 ITS ON THE LINE, 3 UNEXPECTED PARTY
4.05 ALEXEI is the choice to cap a stellar campaign with a maiden Grade 1 success.Starting off with a second in Chepstow’s ‘Welsh Champion’ Handicap Hurdle in October,
Brendan Powell’s partner went one better with a three-length beating of Indemnity in a similar event at Ascot the following month. And Joe Tizzard’s six-year-old defied a 7lb rise in the weights to thump Helnwein by six lengths in the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham 15 days later.
The winning run came to an end back at Ascot five days before Christmas but Alexei was back in business in the Grade 2 Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton in February, to set up a tilt at the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.
Lossiemouth ran out the emphatic winner of the Tuesday feature, with Brighterdaysahead second, The New Lion half a length back in third, Alexei beaten a further two and a half lengths in fourth, with a neck to fifth-placed Golden Ace.
That doesn’t tell the whole story, however – Alexei would have made the podium but for a bad mistake at the final flight – and he still has more to offer. Brighterdaysahead and The New Lion are obvious dangers, while Potters Charm is a Grade 1 winner here and also merits a second look.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 ALEXEI, 2 THE NEW LION, 3 POTTERS CHARM
4.40 RYAN’S ROCKET features on an attractive handicap mark and receives the vote to get his career back on track.
There’s no denying that the Fergal O’Brien-saddled eight-year-old comes with risks attached – he has unseated jockey Johnny Burke on two of his last four starts. But it’s equally hard to get away from the feeling Ryan’s Rocket is capable of netting a decent prize from his current British Horseracing Authority mark of 132.
The son of Jet Away and Burke pounced late to beat Javert Allen by two and a quarter lengths for a big-money two-mile handicap chase at Newbury in November.
Sent off the 7-4 favourite for the Desert Orchid Handicap Chase at Kempton Park in December, my selection saw his challenge come to an end with a bad mistake five fences from home.
But Ryan’s Rocket, then competing from a rating of 135, was going easily at the time and looked set to play a hand in the finish as victory went to the upwardly mobile Thistle Ask. He didn’t get home over two and a half miles back in Sunbury last time so coming back to the minimum trip is the right move.
Without Noise has peaked to land the last two runnings of this race and has to go on the short-list, in company with Highlands Legacy, Stencil and Little Thunder.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 RYAN’S ROCKET, 2 NO SOUND, 3 LITTLE THUNDER
5.15 PRINCESS DAY has done everything right and merits her place at the head of the market. The grey daughter of Success Days made her first appearance in public in a Fairyhouse point-to-point in April of last year, scoring by three lengths.
Princess Day then went to the sales and changed hands for €170,000 before going into training with Jeremy Scott. That was money well spent on the evidence of her first two runs under Rules, beginning with a two-length score from The Lightmaker at Chepstow in December.
The five-year-old then went to Newbury at the end of February and accounted for seven mares in comfortable fashion, stretching four and three-quarter lengths clear of the re-opposing Fairy Park.
Lorcan Williams’ mount gives the impression she has barely scratched beneath the surface and, with plenty of as-yet untapped potential to draw upon, Princess Day is fancied to take the step up to Grade 2 level in her stride and remain unbeaten.
Emerald Quest impressed in victory at Huntingdon on the back of a 570-day absence and has a bright future, as do Miss Ti’amzel and Martini Majesty.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 PRINCESS DAY, 2 EMERALD QUEST, 3 TI’MAMZEL
