Cheltenham Festival is back for Day 3 after a thrilling opening day to ‘the greatest show on turf’ was followed by more drama on Day 2 yesterday.
The opening two days saw plenty of success for Willie Mullins, who finally hit his historic milestone of a century of victories at Cheltenham. He was stunningly denied a ton when overwhelming favourite El Fabiolo pulled up during the Queen Mother Champion Chase, seemingly leaving him stuck on 99 triumphs, only to bring up triple figures in the final race of the day when his son Patrick won the Champion Bumper on Jasmin De Vaux.
It was popular jockey Rachael Blackmore who took advantage of El Fabiolo’s mistake to claim an unlikely win on Captain Guinness and that added to the Irish star’s success in the very first race of the week, on Slade Steel in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, which helped spark excitement and thrills on the opening day.
More than 60,000 spectators are expected to flock to Prestbury Park again for St Patrick’s Thursday, looking to beat the bookmakers, with today’s schedule including the Turners Novices’ Chase first up at 1.30pm, as well as the Ryanair Steeple Chase, Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle and Magners Plate.
Follow all of our coverage from the 2024 Cheltenham Festival below plus get the best each-way odds and tips for Day 3 here and a full analysis of the best bets in the Stayers’ Hurdle here:
