Cheltenham Festival 2021 Day Two Preview : Last Farewell for Tiger Roll?

Last Updated : 14th March, 2021 By Steve A

VENUE

Cheltenham

TIME

Wednesday 17 March 1.20pm to 4.55pm

BROADCAST

Live on ITV

See Stats

Day two of the Cheltenham Festival takes place on Wednesday 11th March and the feature race of the second day is the Champion Chase. This is a race that Altior has won for the past two years, and he is back looking for three in a row. However with the up and coming Defi Du Seuil and Irish raider Chacun Pour Soi up against him, this is likely to be his toughest task to date. Elsewhere there are a further six races to look at with the RSA Chase featuring potential Gold Cup horses of the future and the Cross Country Chase where Tiger Roll looks to land a Cross Country/Grand National double for the third consecutive year. 

Here we take a look at each race on day two of the festival, with links below to take you to the other three days of the meeting. 

Day One | Day Three | Day Four

For all the latest news ahead of the big meeting, make sure you keep checking our Cheltenham Festival page where we will highlight horses that are not running or have been ruled out as well as any major betting moves to report. We also have a dedicated page for day two of the meeting where you will find information about the day as well as a look back at the results from the 2020 Cheltenham Festival.

Ballymore Novices Hurdle - 1.20pm

The Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle has been run since 1971 and is the championship race for novices at the intermediary distance. The race has been won by some legends of the jumping game, including Istabraq in 1997 and Hardy Eustace in 2003. The race is generally the opening contest of the second day of the meeting and often produces future festival champions.  

Bravemansgame is trained by Paul Nicholls and is bidding for a fourth straight win. The most recent win came in the Grade 1 Challow Novices' Hurdle at Newbury at the end of last year. Been making good progress and rest since that last win.

Bear Gyhlls should know how to survive a race like this and has a 100% record over hurdles. Improvement is needed as the last win was in Class 3 but a bold effort will be made and is a good each-way bet.

Bob Ollinger is likely to go off as favourite. Trained by Henry de Bromhead, this runner has been successful in his last two races. The most recent victory was a Grade 1 win over Blue Lord who has run well behind Appreciate Looks to have the best form and can give his fans a flying start.

Brown Advisory Novice Chase - 1.55pm

Previously known as the RSA Chase is the novices’ version of the Gold Cup and often provides pointers for horses subsequently running in the most prestigious chase of the season. The race has had several sponsors but always features 19 fences on the Old Course. Several winners of the race have gone on to win the Gold Cup, including the latest to win both races, Bobs Worth who won the RSA Chase in 2012.

Monkfish is odds on to give Willie Mullins the winner of this race. All three runs over fences have been won including two Grade 1 success in Ireland. Won the Albert Bartlett here last year so knows his way around the course and can earn another success for his trainer.

Who can beat Monkfish? Well, The Big Breakaway has a chance but is most likely just the horse to put in your straight forecast. At last year's Cheltenham Festival, this runner finished fourth in the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle. This season has seen a switch to race over fences. A Cheltenham win in Class 2 was achieved last November. Two seconds have followed and does need to cut out the mistakes. If that happens, then he looks to be a major player in the contest.

Coral Cup Hurdle - 2.30pm

One of the toughest races to solve all week, let alone on this day. The Coral Cup is a minefield, full of horses that are potentially better than their handicap mark suggests or horses that have once been very good and slipped down the weights. If you can pick the winner out of this race you are doing well, and for our selection we go for You Raised Me Up trained by Martin Brassil who is in good form at the moment. This contender has had two good wins this season and this Irish raider has a good each-way chance here.

There are several potential winners here. The Shunter may run later on Wednesday but if opting for this race could put in a strong performance. More about this horse lower down on this page. Grand Roi could go off as favourite and is now being trained by Mrs Denise Foster. Winner of a Grade 2 race at Limerick earlier this year, another win at Naas in January might have occurred but for making a mistake. If avoiding errors on this tough course, a good run is likely in the Coral Cup.

Champion Chase 3.05pm

The Champion Chase as the name suggests is the championship race for two mile chasers, the minimum distance. Twelve fences are jumped at speed and one error can cost a horse any chance of being involved in the finish. The race is the feature contest of the second day of the meeting. The FChampion Chase was first run in 1959 and is the most prestigious chase over the distance in the National Hunt calendar.

Chacun Pour Soi is well fancied to win the 2021 running of this race. The Willie Mullins runner is going for a fourth win this season. Two of them have been in Grade 1 races, the other in Grade 2. The favourite hasn't run at Cheltenham in the past so that is a slight worry. Form this season makes him a worthy favourite to win this race. When winning at Leopardstown in February, this runner showed battling qualities when going wide and having to fight back to get the victory.

Paul Nicholls runs Politologue who run this race last year. December saw a win in the Tingle Creek but could only finish second behind First Flow in the Clarence House Chase at Sandown in January. A bold bid will be put up to win this for the second year in a row but it's Chacun Pour Soi who is the pick for us.

Cross Country Chase - 3.40pm

Easyland won this race last year and is fancied to repeat that victory. Last year saw this runner win the Cross Country Chase by 17 lengths from second placed Tiger Roll and that was despite losing a shoe. That win was a seventh straight win but Easyland has only been out once this season. That was back in November when after a 247 day break, Easyland returned to Cheltenham but could only finish fourth behind Kingswell Theatre. A few mistakes were made in that race but still run on well to get fourth.

Tiger Roll was also in that race but was pulled up. It's not been a good season for the two-time winner of this race and of course the Grand National. Now aged 11 (four years older than Easyland), his best days are behind him and he won't be in the National this year. It's not impossible to imagine that this may well be his last race. In February, Tiger Roll finished last 65 lengths behind the winner in a race at Navan. Hopefully Tiger Roll can put in a good performance but a win is unlikely.

Another contender is Potter's Corner and was third in that November Cheltenham Cross Country race. Two subsequent races have been disappointing and Potter's Corner was pulled up last time out on Valentine's Day. Kingswell Theatre is runnning in this race and will want to do better than when pulled up at last year's Festival though he did run well for a fair while. He didn't do so well at the December 2020 Cross Country Chase held on this course being tailed off. Some Heck won that race and is another to be considered for this race.

Grand Annual Chase - 4.15pm

Another tough race to solve on day two is the Grand Annual Chase. Emmett Mullins trains The Shunter and is well worth a punt. Last time out, The Shunter kept on well to win a Class 2 race at Kelso. That followed a win at Cheltenham last November in a Grade 3 race. 

There are so many contenders in this race, so each way betting is going to be a good idea. Jonjo O'Neill has Sky Pirate who could well go off favourite. This contender has also had a win at Cheltenham this season winning in Class 2. Another win followed before a second at Warwick behind the useful Allmankind. A good run from that horse on day one of the festival would be interesting.

A good each-way bet could be Ibleo who is trained by Venetia Williams. Four wins have come in seven races over fences. The most recent being a Class 2 win at Doncaster at the end of January. That followed a good win at Sandown but before those wins, Ibleo finished second behind Sky Pirate on this course. Only three and a half lengths behind though and a shoe was lost, so could get closer this time. This contender can certainly go well in this race.

Champion Bumper - 4.50pm

This is a race that produces plenty of future winners. The top six in last year's race have all beeen winners, so take a note of who does well in the 2021 running of the Champion Bumper. This is also a race that the Irish raiders tend to do well in. The future stars are on parade and Willie Mullins has the top two contenders in this race.

Kilcruit is after a third straight win. The most recent outing produced a win at Leopardstown in the Goffs Future Stars race. That was a Grade 2 event ran in February and Kilcruit was the 12 length winner ahead of Letsbeclearaboutit, who had won two of his previous three races.

Also fancied here is Sir Gerhard who is after a fourth win. He's also beaten Letsbeclearabout it but only by four and a half lengths.  Previously trained by Gordon Elliott, Sir Gerhard is now with the Willie Mullins yard but hasn't run in 2021. He has a good chance here bu its Kilcruit who we fancy for he final race on Wednesday's action packed card to end the day with a winner.