Theatre to take centre stage

UP THE ANTE: OUR Cheltenham Festival ante-post portfolio is starting to build up quite nicely, with the first-day’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Champion Hurdle already covered in this column.

Today I am concentrating on the race sandwiched between those two contests and one which promises to be one of the best and most competitive of the entire meeting.

The two-mile Arkle Chase, won last year by Forpadydeplaster, has attracted the best entry for years.

Captain Cee Bee, winner of the Supreme from Binocular two years ago, and Sizing Europe, the beaten Champion Hurdle favourite behind Katchit on the same day, head the market at 4-1 and 13-2 respectively.

The pair clashed at Leopardstown on Boxing Day and Captain Cee Bee looked to be going marginally better than his Irish rival when taking a last-fence tumble.

Osana - 16-1 for the Arkle, was beaten five and a half lengths into second by Sizing Europe - and, on that evidence, will not be winning at Cheltenham.

That said, the 2008 Champion Hurdle runner-up has a stronger record around Prestbury Park than Sizing Europe so all is not lost for the shrewd Eddie O’Grady’s slick-jumping seven-year-old.

As for Captain Cee Bee, he is probably the most talented horse in the race, but that fall and an injury-enforced year-long absence are off-putting, particularly given his current cramped odds.

I expect him to start around the same price on the day, so it’s better to look elsewhere for value.

The obvious one from these shores is Henrietta Knight’s Somersby, who finished third to Go Native and Medermit in last year’s Supreme.

That form has been franked in spades and, when you consider Somersby has been terrific over fences in his two winning starts at Warwick and Sandown, then he must be a major player.

Here again, though, given the strength of the Irish challenge his current price of 7-1 is unlikely to be shorter on the day even though he could well run - and win - at Doncaster on Saturday.

Nicky Henderson has a clutch of promising novice chasers and earlier this week he was positively gushing in his praise of Long Run (12-1).

The French import impressed me tremendously when winning on his English debut at Kempton on Boxing Day, but that race was over three miles and I am not sure if two miles in a hot race such as the Arkle is going to be his thing.

Henderson is considering dropping him to the minimum trip at Warwick on Saturday week, but we can’t be backing a horse for the Arkle at this stage without knowing it is a definite runner.

The trainer also has two other powerful strings to his bow in Riverside Theatre (10-1) and Mad Max (20-1) and it’s the former who appeals as the best ante-post value at this stage.

A high-class novice hurdler, he has looked brilliant on both his starts over fences at Newbury at Kempton.

Admittedly, those runs came in small fields on soft ground, but I have no doubt he will be even better on a faster surface when his superb jumping should carry him into the race without him being asked too many questions.

Only a couple of pounds behind Somersby as a novice hurdler, he could make the necessary progress to overtake that rival and Barry Geraghty, successful in this race last year and boasting a superb Cheltenham Festival record, is likely to take the mount.

Those looking for an outsider may wish to consider a small each-way punt on Bedlam Boy (50-1), who is unbeaten in two starts over fences this term and has been compared favourably with last year’s Arkle runner-up Kalahari King by his trainer, Ferdy Murphy.

However, this year’s race looks much stronger and I have little doubt the winner will be a force to be reckoned with in next year’s Champion Chase.

For me, that horse could well be Riverside Theatre.

RECOMMENDATION: Riverside Theatre, 10-1 (Sporting Bet, Victor Chandler, Paddy Power, Stan James, William Hill).