Cheltenham Festival tips: Simon Rowlands picks out two each-way fancies on day one of the four-day meeting

Top tipster Simon Rowlands has two each-way fancies on the opening day of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival with horses who top and tail the top-class card.

The opening day of the Cheltenham Festival is always a special one in the racing calendar, but this year more than most. We have a Unibet Champion Hurdle (3.30) for the ages due to the presence of a towering talent in the division in Constitution Hill, and he has two or three decidedly classy rivals against him in a field of seven.

Constitution Hill is unbeaten in five starts over hurdles, the last four of them Grade Ones, all by a dozen lengths or more. His win in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle here 12 months ago may well have been one of the greatest ever hurdling performances, as he slammed Jonbon and other good horses by 22 lengths and more.

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Constitution Hill and State Man among seven in Champion Hurdle

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In the process, he ran a stupendously fast time, in the region of 25 lengths faster than Honeysuckle managed in winning the Champion Hurdle itself on the same card, and significantly faster than that mare late on also. Let that sink in for a moment.

This season, his first in open company, Constitution Hill has trounced a former Champion Hurdler in Epatante twice: In the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle and the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, quickening clear both times without coming under serious pressure. Neither Epatante nor Honeysuckle are quite as good as they once were, but come on!

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If he wins the Champion Hurdle, Constitution Hill could well be the shortest-priced such horse in the race’s near-100-year history. Sir Ken at 2/5 in the second of his three successive Champion Hurdle victories in 1953 holds that honour. Constitution Hill is even shorter at the time of writing.

He looks unmatched, especially on ground that promises to be softer than many were expecting until recently, but racing is a funny old game. There is also the not-so-small matter of the Irish Champion Hurdler State Man – winner of his last six – to contend with.

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Former Champion Hurdle-winning jockey Barry Geraghty was the man who found superstar Constitution Hill and believes he has the potential to match the great Istabraq.

State Man has shown form good enough to win an average Champion Hurdle, and if Constitution Hill fails to fire, he may well do so. But there is also a chance that he will get drawn prematurely into a battle with a once-in-a-generation talent and suffer accordingly.

Vauban, last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner but twice behind State Man this season, may just pick up some pieces, if so.

I Like To Move It was tremendously impressive in winning the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton in a smart time, but this is a couple of levels higher again, and recent rain may not have helped him.

Constitution Hill deserves to be the sort of price he is, and it may end up being a question of “how far?”. I would go for something like seven lengths, and anything more than that could easily make him the highest-rated hurdler in history. This is one race I can watch – transfixed, I reckon – without having a financial stake.

Fast and furious Supreme can suit Il Etait Temps

Image: Il Etait Temps wins at Leopardstown under Danny Mullins

This year’s Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (1.30) surely cannot compete with last year’s, but let’s see. There is one horse in there that has been spoken of in hushed tones, in Facile Vega, but he came badly unstuck in a Grade One at the Dublin Racing Festival last time.

There were extenuating circumstances that day in terms of an overly strong early pace (set by him and by the erratic-jumping High Definition) and post-race soreness, but he has lost some of his aura.

Facile Vega’s defeat rather overshadowed the win that day of his stable-companion IL ETAIT TEMPS, who stormed through to win by nine-and-a-half lengths from Inthepocket. Il Etait Temps has been useful for a while, coming fifth in the Triumph Hurdle here 12 months ago, but this was better still.

Il Etait Temps tends to go freely and the prospect of a good pace in a 14-runner field here should see him go well again. His odds make him an each-way bet in my book.

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Patrick Mullins thinks Facile Vega could have the edge over Marine Nationale in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.

Rare Edition looks best of an overall weak British contingent (though truly soft ground would be an unknown, for it was not that when he won at Kempton despite what you may read in places), while the unbeaten Marine Nationale achieved less than the Mullins-trained pair when winning the Royal Bond before Christmas when last seen.

If those two races are not enough, we have a fascinating Sporting Life Arkle Chase (2.10), in which there is nothing in the betting between the pride of Ireland, El Fabiolo, and the pride of Britain, Jonbon.

I was originally in the camp of Jonbon, who put up tremendous late splits when winning at Sandown before Christmas, but he failed to impress when beating his only rival at Warwick last time. Either way, El Fabiolo put up an even better performance, including on the clock, when winning the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown last time despite one major mistake.

There will be little margin for error here, in a race which involves two more fences but an overall distance that is more than a furlong shorter than Leopardstown. That brings the free-going and bold-jumping Dysart Dynamo – fourth at Leopardstown but still bang in there until early on the run-in – into play.

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Looking for Cheltenham Festival winners? The Sky Sports Racing team are on hand with some useful tips for when you are studying the form.

The problem is that plenty of “smart” money has come for Dysart Dynamo lately, and he is not as appealing a betting proposition as he was. This should be a gripping contest, but the recommendation is ‘no bet’ in this instance.

That also applies to the Ultima Handicap Chase (2.50), in which last year’s winner Corach Rambler is top of my figures but in a race in which arguably nothing deserves to be shorter than about 8/1, and the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (4.50), though I think that Tekao is the right favourite in that.

I will be staying out of the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle (4.10), also, but this has ended up being one of the races of the meeting, featuring the aforementioned former Champion Hurdlers Honeysuckle and Epatante, plus the smart Marie’s Rock and Echoes In Rain.

There is precious little in it, but I would just about have Honeysuckle favourite for a race in which she turned over Benie Des Dieux three years ago. That aside, it would be great to see the mare go into retirement with victory in this.

Mahler Mission should relish National Hunt test

Image: Mahler Mission has been well supported for the National Hunt Chase

I do fancy one in the concluding Wellchild National Hunt Chase (5.30), however. Gaillard Du Mesnil is a rightful favourite but has won only once from eight chase starts, and I am not convinced he is 100 per cent straightforward.

MAHLER MISSION does look to be, and he is clear second-best in my book. He beat The Real Whacker, no less, over hurdles and has taken really well to larger obstacles after a blip on his chasing debut, beating Tenzing by 10 lengths at Navan in January. Tenzing should at least get up the hill.

Mahler Mission was beaten narrowly at Navan again last time, but in a race in which he made the running without going fast enough to exploit his stamina, jumping well and coming again at the line.

An extra three quarters of a mile or so should suit him, and he has a solid chance of being placed, and quite possibly of winning.

So, just the two recommendations on the opening day of this year’s Cheltenham Festival. We will know more about the true state of the ground by the end of Tuesday, and selectivity is a strength, anyway, at a meeting which stretches over four days and 28 races. Good luck, and enjoy!