Racehour is back! And expert pundit Tony Keenan has advised a 33/1 antepost bet for the 2027 Cheltenham Festival.
It's been a long summer for National Hunt fans, but they can now celebrate the return of proper Jumps racing, with many already looking forward to the four days of action from Prestbury Park next March.
Although the guts of the season are very much ahead of us, Tony was keen to put forward a case for one at a price that could have a say in the Champion Hurdle.
Speaking on the opening Racehour podcast of the 2026/27 season, Keenan said: "I backed Saratoga for the Champion Hurdle! Look, that's taking a chance with what race he's going to be in.
"I suppose the case is, I think that the four-year-old hurdlers of last season are good. My starting point is that I'd like to look at Punchestown and see where the four-year-olds fit in, and a lot of them did well at a lower level; Quinta Do Lago won, Beauvallon won, Adrienne won, but the one that probably did well to get in the mix was Lord Byron in the King Rasko Grey race.
"And, they were very much the second tier, even third tier of novice hurdlers.
"For me, last year's two-mile Irish novice hurdlers were as bad a bunch as their have been for the last 10 years or so. I can't think of a bunch as bad!
"Saratoga, all the maiden hurdle runs he ran in mean nothing. There are two runs that you should be judging him on and those are the Fred Winter and Punchestown. He won the two of them in very similar fashion; travelled much the best, didn't always hurdle with fluency, but won with a bit in hand.
"He's won over the Champion Hurdle course and distance, he will like nice ground. I think there is loads of improvement because, as I say, he's only really had two races over hurdles. We know that there is no depth in the race and I think I would like to be with these four-year-olds to show up and be pretty decent."
Lossiemouth is currently your 5/4 favourite to regain her Champion Hurdle crown.
After years of being touted as a champion hurdler, connections finally took the plunge to run her in the Tuesday feature and she produced the goods, beating previous winner Golden Ace by five-lengths.
This extended her excellent Cheltenham record to a perfect six from six and she looks all set to defend her crown next year.
In behind her, connections of 2026 Supreme Novices' Hurdle third Mydaddypaddy will be hoping that he can make a smooth transition into open company, where he will likely bump into both Alexei and Idaho Sun at the some point during the season.
The Irish charge -- barring the favourite -- looks fairly weak. Narciso Has, Kopek Des Bordes and King Rasko Grey are set to go over fences, while Brighterdaysahead is targeting the Mares' Hurdle this time around.
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.
