Well, Prestbury Park’s showcase meeting of the year is very, very close, but before then I have some free Cheltenham Festival 2025 Ante-post Tips and a weekend preview to share.
Yes, this piece will highlight my fifth and final Cheltenham Festival ante-post tip alongside four bets for this weekend across Kelso and Newbury.
In what is my final column of the month, we are pretty much dead-level for February. The column is up 0.56pts at an ROI of 1.8%. Big numbers, I know.
Let’s try not to give anything away before Cheltenham.
Free Cheltenham Festival 2025 Ante-post Tips
Broadway Boy @ 10/1 (general) – Ultima Handicap Chase
The Ultima Handicap Chase looks like an interesting race at this stage. Money is coming for Whistle Stop Tour at a big price and a few people like Henry’s Friend, but Broadway Boy is my horse.
He has a rating of 150 now which, admittedly, is a career-high mark, but he’s been rated between 146 and 150 for 15 months now due to a few blow-outs and poor performances when needing the run.
His last win came off 146 over 3m2f on the new course at Cheltenham where he beat Threeunderthrufive (rated 150 at the time). The runner-up went on to win a valuable handicap chase at Ascot before nearly winning the same Ascot race earlier this month.
As for this season, Broadway Boy blew off the cobwebs at Prestbury Park before a mighty effort in the Coral Gold Cup behind Kandoo Kid.
The race has produced Henry’s Friend and Victtorino as two subsequent winners, and Paul Nicholls is adamant Kandoo Kid will run a big race in the Grand National.
The Coral Gold Cup looks like a notable piece of form in the staying chasing ranks this season, and the mistake he made at the fourth-last didn’t help his charge towards the line.
Looking at his potential opposition, there aren’t many horses that look like ‘chucked-in’ contenders. Th Ultima never usually has this type of horse, and this year looks very similar.
Broadway Boy, with his age, could well be a 160-rated chaser in time, so he has the scope to go well at a course he loves.
Weekend Selections
1:10 Kelso – Helnwein @ 7/4 with William Hill – 2pt Win
For the first time in a while, I’m putting up two 2pt win selections, and the first comes in the Kelso opener with Helnwein.
I want to start by talking about his opposition. Real Stone loves the mud and he won last time out on soft ground. He’s also won on heavy before and he has been declared a non-runner on good in the past.
Similarly, Netywell has won all four of his races on heavy and he has been a non-runner on good to soft before.
Bollingerandkrug is 10 and has been beaten by a combined distance of 51 lengths on his last three starts, Kidman is a bit of an unknown but he doesn’t appear to be obviously well-handicapped, and Gallic Geordie is 12 who could probably do with a softer surface.
So, by the process of elimination alone, that points to Helnwein, and his form backs that up.
He beat Be Aware on his final start of last season on good ground and he split Secret Squirrel and Lario at Taunton in April.
That success over Be Aware also saw him best Secret Squirrel, Steel Ally, and Fiercely Proud, so that piece of form is the best on offer.
Back on a sounder surface should really suit him and he looks like a fair price to win his first race over fences.
2:20 Kelso – Fontana Ellissi @ 33/1 with William Hill (3 places) – 0.5pt EW
I’m taking a bit of a chance on the rank outsider in the 2m5f handicap hurdle as Fontana Ellissi could land a minor surprise.
He’s had two separate setbacks in the last two years, so he’s only raced three times since the start of 2023.
Because of this, the handicapper has relented to give him a mark of 110 which is 1lb below his last winning mark, though his most recent success came in February 2022 at Ffos Las.
A few months after Ffos Las, he chased home a then-129-rated Seddon over 2m4f at Cheltenham on good ground before nearly winning over three miles at Prestbury Park in November 2022.
Those runs came with official ratings of 114 and 118, so he is well-handicapped based on that form.
After his first setback, he actually ran some fine races behind White Rhino and Butch at Cheltenham on two separate occasions, but both runs were probably on softer-than-ideal ground.
Back on a sounder surface will suit him nicely, and connections are applying a first-time set of cheekpieces. Benjamin Macey’s 7lb claim is useful, and he is an interesting runner at a big price.
3:30 Kelso – Tellherthename @ 9/2 with William Hill – 2pt Win
For a week or so, I’ve been all-in on Tellherthename fotr the Morebattle, and my confidence has not wavered.
Let’s start with his campaign so far this season as it’s not been conventional. Having been a short price for the Greatwood Hurdle, connections missed that and sent him to the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth instead. Why?
Did they want to protect his mark while also getting race fitness into him? Maybe.
Still, it worked as he ran an eye-catching race behind Sir Gino and was raised just two pounds from the handicapper.
He’s been absent since, though news came out before the William Hill Hurdle that he had to get a benign tumour removed which set him back a few weeks.
He didn’t go for the William Hill Hurdle which, in my eyes, was weird because Andrew Megson said it was the plan in a Racing TV article in January.
Maybe, just maybe, connections decided that they wanted to give the £100,000 Morebattle-Cheltenham Festival bonus a try, but nothing has been confirmed. At least we know the first half of that double is being attempted!
I’m drawn into the hype that it has been a plan, and as such, I’ve had a small nibble at the 33/1 available for the County Hurdle
This is a fairly bold claim, but I think he’s one of the best-handicapped hurdlers in the game based on his novice form.
He was just nudged out by Jango Baie on hurdles debut before smashing Lucky Place at Huntingdon in a canter. When with Ben Pauling, he was thought of as a genuine Supreme Novices’ Hurdle contender, but the ground turned on him.
He’s thoroughly unexposed in this company, and while I couldn’t get a definite answer out of AJ O’Neill on Monday’s media visit regarding an attempt at the £100,000 bonus, there was somewhat of a twinkle in his eye regarding this weekend.
4:15 Newbury – Go To War @ 8/1 with William Hill – 1pt EW
Over at Newbury, I’m willing to forgive Go To War and keep my fingers crossed that he can win on his third dive into handicap company.
For a Fergal O’Brien-trained horse, he attracted plenty of chat as his trainer and Paddy Brennan spoke very highly of him.
I caught onto the hype, so when he pretty much ran out at Exeter in October 2023 and was then beaten at Taunton in November, I was surprised.
He put that behind him to beat Jour d’Evasion comfortably on a much slower surface at Ludlow before returning to the track to put Court In The Act away.
Jour d’Evasion is rated 120 and Court In The Act has a rating of 126, so beating them by seven and three lengths respectively looks like good form considering he is rated 124.
Go To War ran a fine race on his debut for Nicky Henderson at Huntingdon in December (when he probably needed the run), though he was poor at Newbury on Challow Novices’ Hurdle Day.
He was sent off the 7/2 favourite that day, but the vet reported that he sustained a wound to his left fore which could explain the performance shown.
I like their persistence in trying 2m4f again, and the soft ground should play to his strengths.
If Henderson has gotten any improvement out of Go To War since he’s had him, he can make his mark of 124 look a bit silly and this is a winnable race.
