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Cheltenham Festival: Day Three Betting Tips

Day three of the Festival gets underway with the Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase.

Kathleen Davis

March 14th, 2023

NEIL ROY JOHNSON / Shutterstock.com

The 2023 Cheltenham Festival is now in full swing with history-making wins for Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle on day one. Our day two tips are up and live so thanks to odds from betting partners, Betfair, we now turn our attention to day three of the Cheltenham Festival.

Day three of the Festival gets underway with the Grade 1 Turners Novices' Chase. Mighty Potter is a short-priced favourite and justifiably so. The Gordon Elliott-trained six-year-old pulled up in last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle but he's been a revelation since being sent chasing this season. Mighty Potter is 3-3 in chases this season, winning back-to-back Grade 1 events in December and February. Undoubtedly the form horse of the Turners field and the one to beat in the day's opener.

The Ryanair Chase antepost market has been a bit of a minefield. Long-time favourite, Allaho misses the Festival which left the Ryanair betting wide-open. Then, in February, the betting was turned upside down as Shishkin stepped up in trip and stormed to victory in the Ascot Chase.

Shishkin, a Festival winner in 2020 and 2021, pulled up in last year's Queen Mother Champion Chase before a disappointing run in the Tingle Creek in December. Subsequent wind surgery and a step up to 2m5f saw Nicky Henderson's nine-year-old back to his best. Shishkin looks primed to put 2022 behind him and win a third Cheltenham Festival Grade 1 race.

The feature race on day three is the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle. Blazing Khal is the bookies' favourite but any number of entries could land this Grade 1. Blazing Khal defied a 428-day absence to land the Boyne Hurdle at Navan in February and is likely to be a big player on Thursday. Blazing Khal is already a C&D winner having landed a Grade 2 here in December 2021.

At a price of 3/1, Blazing Khal is clearly well-respected but we're more than happy to take him on. Flooring Porter is a two-time winner of the race having won in both 2021 and 2022. The bookies have an odd habit of underestimating Flooring Porter who has only started as race favourite in one of his previous seven career race wins. His SPs when landing back-to-back Stayers' Hurdles were 12/1 and 4/1 so don't be deterred by any market negativity.

Teahupoo disappointed at last year's Festival but he seems to have enjoyed the longer distances he's been tasked with recently. Having finished dead last over two miles at both Cheltenham and Punchestown last spring, Teehupoo won a Grade 1 race over 2m3f in December before keeping on strongly to land a Grade 2 over three miles by 15 lengths last time out. Like Shishkin earlier in the day, Teehupoo could be the ghosts of the 2022 Cheltenham Festival by winning over the longer distance.