it is brighterdaysahead, close accounts & the tipster-maestro goes for ...

​It is on. Finally, we are released from our tenterhooks – God Bless the O’Leary brothers for allowing Brighterdaysahead to run in the Champion Hurdle rather than the cheap option of the Mares race. Cheltenham is alight with the anticipation of the best Champion Hurdle since the days of Brave Inca and Harcibald.
A Champion Hurdle with four legitimate contenders, even if most people think Constitution Hill is home and hosed already. We have the reigning champion, remember him, State Man and we have two of the best mares over the Champion Hurdle distance since Annie Power. And we have Constitution Hill, lord of the dance, lord of all he surveys.
If the big four all turn into the straight with a chance of being first past the winning post, one, possibly two, of them will wilt, giving one of the outsiders the chance to run on for a place. I hope James Owen has a change of heart and runs Burdett Road, given he might have easier race being ridden to pick up the pieces than he will have trying to carry top weight in the County Hurdle, and on Christmas Hurdle form, he is no forlorn contender to spring a major shock. If someone as bold and terrier-like as Nigel Twiston-Davies were training Burdett Road, he would line-up in the Champion Hurdle as he would not accept one defeat, giving weight to top-class mare, on ground that did not suit and a track that did not see at his best, as reason enough not to be brave.
Golden Ace will now go for the Mares Hurdle, which would be a wise decision, even if I would have taken the decision to have one shot at true glory with a mare who obviously comes right at this time of year. Lossiemouth I believe will run in the Champion Hurdle as Willie Mullins has said several times that the mare has been trained for 2-years with the Champion Hurdle in mind, and on Kempton form, again on a course that did her few favours, she is bang there with a winning chance.
I believe, as long as he is back to his best, that a strong gallop would suit State Man every bit as much as it will suit Constitution Hill and Paul Townend might again side with him over Lossiemouth.
It is an intriguing contest and to me it all boils down to whether Constitution Hill is 7Ibs superior to Brighterdaysahead? I have no doubt that at level weights Constitution Hill is the better horse. Yet that 7Ib sex allowance and the ferocious gallop she maintained at Leopardstown, if deployed again at Cheltenham, has me thinking she may hang on up the hill. But who cares who wins. I just hope the big four all run and each one does himself and herself justice.

Those people who have been contacted by their bank – Santander seems to be the culprit – about their gambling habits, should seek an interview with a bank manager, explain the whys and wherefores of their visit and begin the process of changing banks. Only by explaining why you are closing your account and moving elsewhere will banks understand how their overreach offends its customers. Then, though perhaps not as they are no doubt acting in collusion with government, they might seek to mend their ways. If you do not stand up for your right to freedom and privacy, they will not stop at friendly e-mails that hint at something far darker. The government are behind this latest assault on our freedoms, with an agenda that will eventually allow them oversight on all our banking and spending habits. At the moment, government spies are data-gathering, as they did through covid, on the pretext of keeping addicts from harming themselves and their families, when in reality they are on the look-out for money-launderers. If only they would not hide behind concern for the welfare of people, perhaps we would all be more willing to be helpful to them.

The tipster-maestro, as I call him, Paul Kealy, has Absurde as his best bet at the Cheltenham Festival. I think it is absurd to think that a horse will win the County Hurdle two years in a row, though I am not the tipster-maestro; Paul Kealy is.