The Day Two highlight will see Sprinter Sacre return to the scene of his greatest triumph in the Champion Chase, with last year’s winner Sire De Grugy among those also in a field not considered to be of great quality by the experts.
Don Poli in the RSA Chase is probably the second most important horse of the day and a punting prospect that shrewd punters have been eyeing up for some time.
The Champion Bumper rounds out the day and while it is often considered a likely success for Willie Mullins, the stats show that even he struggles to know which of his team will run well in this one.
1.30 Neptune Investment Management Novices Hurdle (2m5f, 10 runners)
The next trip up from the Supreme Novices Hurdle but with a smaller field and an extra half-a-mile to cope with, the qualities needed to win are slightly different.
Faugheen romped to victory as a 6/4 favourite last year, but in general, as ever, favourite backers have to be wary. Market leaders have only won three of the last ten.
The race sees plenty of larger animals with futures in the chasing game take their chance. Irish horses don’t have quite the same dominance in this one as the Supreme but have won six of the last 13 (versus 9 of 13 in the Supreme).
Very well-known colours will be worn by the leading fancies with Outlander (Gigginstown), Nichols Canyon (Graham Wylie) and Windsor Park (Dr Ronan Lambe) heading the market.
Davy Russell (Jockey, Windsor Park): “Windsor Park’s jumping has been improving and it needs to. I’d be very disappointed if an English novice hurdler can beat the Irish novice hurdlers in this year especially. They are an extraordinary bunch of horses. That’s not taking anything away from the English horses. I’m not saying the favourites will win, but I’d be very surprised if an Irish horse doesn’t win.”
Leon Blanche (Bookmaker): “I think Outlander is a crazy price at 5/1."
Liam Nash (Journalist): “Having been third behind Windsor Park and Nichols Canyone, after Alvisio Ville’s run, the one I take out of it tomorrow is Outlander, I think he will take a world of beating.”
Katie Walsh (Jockey): "Willie (Mullins) looks like he’ll have both Nichols Canyon and Outlander running in the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle and it’s actually Outlander who I think could win this one.
"Ruby (Walsh) doesn’t have any choice to make here as Outlander is owned by Gigginstown and will be ridden by their retained jockey Bryan Cooper and he’s a horse that was very good the last day at Leopardstown and he stays very well so go with him for that race.”
2.05pm The RSA Chase (3m110y, 9 runners)
Another relatively small field with less than only nine taking their chance in a race which is run over the Gold Cup course and is expected to throw up future contenders for the blue riband itself.
Superb performances like Denman’s in 2007 live long in the memory while Lord Windermere and Bobs Worth are high class performers who have won the race in recent years.
Coneygree, seen as a likely leading contender for the RSA as recently as a week ago, will skip this in favour of the big race on Friday.
That leaves the key to the race as Don Poli, a quirky sort, but one with an undeniably impressive record. Five of the last favourites have been beaten. Can he change that wretched record?
Rupert Bell (Journalist): "Don Poli ran at the Festival last year and the horse he beat, Thomas Crapper, was second on Tuesday. I’m fairly sweet on his chances even though favourites have a horrid record in the race. I think Don Poli has a huge chance."
Willie Mullins (Trainer, Don Poli): "Don Poli can go out in trip no trouble - he just runs and runs. He stays, runs and jumps. I think he was nicely handicapped (when winning) last year and got a great ride from Mikey Fogarty. Because he's so lazy, he didn't show off his ability to the handicapper, but every grade he steps up, he's able to step up. He's hugely lazy and that's his forte. He only gets going in the latter stages of those long races."
Davy Russell (Jockey, formerly retained by Don Poli owners Gigginstown): "Riding this horse at home, he gives you no feel and shows no ability. It’s when he gets to the race-course and gets an obstacle in front of him, he lights up. My worry would be that Don Poli like things at his speed rather than at the speed this race is going to be run at."
Bryan Cooper (Jockey, Don Poli): "He's not slow. He's just very lazy and laid back. When you ride him and give him a squeeze he comes alive and then when he gets to the front, he doesn't do a whole lot. I think he ticks a lot of the right boxes. If they go a strong gallop it will suit. I think it's the right race for him.”
2.40pm Coral Cup (2m5f, 26 runners)
Even over a mid-distance trip, this will be a cavalry charge with 26 runners of varying ability. A graveyard for favourites with none winning in the last ten years and – according to the Racing Post – an average SP of 16/1 about the winner in that same period.
Seasoned judges will steer clear of making anything, but a hopeful prediction. One nice trend to note is that six of the last 11 winners had one on their previous run. Un Atout is an interesting contender given the sheer dominance of the Willie Mullins’ hurdlers over the first day.
Sam Twiston-Davies (Jockey, Aux Ptit Soins): “He’s come over from France and looks to have an attractive mark."
Victor Dartnall (trainer, Delve): "He's in great form and we're really looking forward to the Festival. He's won his last three races, which has put him up to a career high so we've decided to claim 5lb off him with Sean Bowen, the conditional star of the season. I suppose the one thing in his favour is that the ground is drying out and if he finished in the first ten we would be absolutely delighted."
3.20pm Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (2m, 9 runners)
The pinnacle of a division that often vexes. There have been great names and brilliant performances from the likes of Moscow Flyer, Azertuiyop, Master Minded and Sprinter Sacre, but also wins by lesser lights such as like Newmill, Big Zeb and Finian’s Rainbow.
The calibre of Sire De Grugy’s victory last year in the absence of Sprinter Sacre is still open to dispute. The presence of Dodging Bullets, the form horse in 2015 and a winner over Sprinter Sacre this season, is also a crucial consideration.
The key is which Sprinter Sacre we will see this time. At his best, he was rated alongside Arkle and Flyingbolt by UK handicapper Phil Smith. Beset by a series of physical problems since then, can he perform anywhere close to that level this time? And will he need to?
Ted Walsh (Trainer/Analyst): "Sprinter Sacre has always had a problem with his wind and he bleeds. If he can win a Champion Chase with all those problems, the rest of them should be ashamed of themselves. I never thought Sprinter Sacre was as high as Phil Smith rated him, nearly up alongside Arkle and Flyingbolt. I don’t like Champagne Fever either. I was disappointed with him in the King George."
Gordon Elliott (Trainer): "I think Sire De Grugy is the horse to beat. I couldn’t have Sprinter Sacre. If they went another furlong the last day, he would have been beaten another 20 lengths. All the vibes are good, but there is no more confident jockey than Barry Geraghty. If Barry is going up on a donkey he thinks he can win on it. That is good if he's riding for you. But I couldn’t have Sprinter Sacre."
Liam Nash (Journalist): “Despite being put off by wind and gawking and blood, I’m going to stick with Sprinter Sacre. I will just take the chance that while he is not as good as he was, he is good enough to beat these.”
Paul Nicholls (Trainer, Dodging Bullets): "Dodging Bullets probably on form deserves to be the favourite for the Champion Chase, but he is not. He has had a fantastic season – he needed his first race this season at Cheltenham and has improved since then.
"He won the Tingle Creek at Sandown and then the Clarence House nicely at Ascot the other day, beating Sprinter Sacre. He had plenty left in the tank. He likes soft ground and I would not want it to dry up too much for Cheltenham.
"He is a really staying two-miler. The Champion Chase is run on the Old Course which I think is an easy two miles so I would like to see the ground quite testing. He is in really good form - we sorted out his ulcers - and he worked great this week."
Nicky Henderson (Trainer, Sprinter Sacre): "He is in seriously good shape and doing everything we have remotely asked of him without killing him.
“He travelled like the best horse at Ascot and just got tired at the end. Barry Geraghty waited a bit longer than he might have done but that was perfectly understandable.
"I think everyone would love to see him back as he was so special. I don’t think he will ever be back to what he was two years ago when he was unbeatable, but he might not need to be.
"We want our crown back. Sire De Grugy has it and I'm sure the Moores want to keep it, but we want it back. Let's hope the race lives up to the billing."
4pm The Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase (3m7f, 16 runners)
The first cross-country race of the week and a markedly different spectacle to the high-class chases and frantic hurdles and handicaps earlier in the day.
Seeing your pick well down a strung-out field is not always the end of the world with winners capable of coming from well off the pace as this mix of amateur and professional jockeys attempts to judge the pace perfectly.
Enda Bolger and Nina Carberry won this race for three years in-a-row from 2007 and Bolger won the race in 2005 as well, that time with JT McNamara on board.
But Bolger is without a win since, and English-trained horses areincreasingly a factor in this quirky contest.
Rupert Bell (Journalist): “There is very strong word for Duke of Lucca.”
4.40pm Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle (2m, 22 runners)
Another race with no clear favourite though Gordon Elliot’s ability to deliver a winner on the big day has been noted by the market and Hostile Fire, down the handicap, is the current market leader.
Gordon Elliott (Trainer, Hostile Fire): “He is in great form, the more the ground dries out for him the better for Hostile Fire. He’s in good nick.”
5.15pm Champion Bumper (2m, 24 runners)
The bumper often sees a well-fancied Irish horse attract plenty of attention – and money – in the build-up, but with so many young, unexposed and inexperienced animals it is no surprise that the winner is often returned at a huge price, or that only two favourites have won since 1993.
Willie Mullins usually sends a battalion and saddled the winner in 2012 and 2013, but Dermot Weld lifted the crown last year with Silver Concorde and sends Vigil, fifth last year, for a second bite a the cherry this time around.
The Irish have won 17 of the last 22 editions, but the English challenge is considered stronger than usual this year.
Liam Nash (Journalist): “Willie Mullins runs a lorry-load and if they all turned up in a race at Punchestown tomorrow I’d be hard pushed to pick one though I do like Bordini. If I was going to have a bet, and I may not, I’d have a bet each way on Vigil."
Pat Smullen (Jockey, Vigil): "He seems in very good form. He's stronger and the experience of running in the race last year, the hustle and bustle, the atmosphere and the crowd will certainly all stand to him.
"He was working very well going into the race last year and I felt there was very little between the two horses and this year his work has been right up there, but the drying ground would be a negative and I hope they get some rain... I definitely want to see rain."
Cheltenham Festival live on RTÉ1 from 1:30pm on Tuesday. Live on RTÉ Radio 1 LW and Digital from 1pm. Live streaming (ROI only) and text on RTÉ.ie.
