Paul Townend runs through his day three rides at Cheltenham
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Galopin Des Champs can edge Bob Olinger battle, says Paul Townend
Ladbrokes ambassador Paul Townend will celebrate St Patrick’s Day with four rides on day three of the Cheltenham Festival having got wins under his belt on Wednesday with Energumene and Sir Gerhard.
He examines their prospects and fancies Galopin Des Champs and Allaho to go well.
The Turners’ Novices’ Chase is a match between Galopin Des Champs and Bob Olinger. The speed he showed winning last year was very impressive. It is going to be the biggest test for both of them so far. However, you have to be able to jump around here and I think my horse has the edge.
I ride Winter Fog for Emmet Mullins in the Pertemps. He is unexposed. Emmet Mullins is a dangerous man when he brings one over here. The qualifier in Leopardstown will stand to him a lot. You need a lot of luck in running with a big field, but he is a nice light weight and I think he has a solid chance.
Allaho was hugely impressive in the Ryanair under Rachael Blackmore last year. Hopefully he can put in a similar performance this year and should be good enough. Conflated is an interesting horse after winning over further at Leopardstown. That said, we set the standard and if he can reproduce anything like last year, he will be good enough. He’s my best chance of the day anyway.
Klassical Dream will be interesting in the Stayers’ Hurdle. It’s not a huge field for the race this year which will be a help at the start, but it’s very competitive. We got the better of Flooring Porter at Leopardstown, we flopped at Gowran then but I am putting a line through that run. With Flooring Porter, Klassical Dream and Paisley Park, the start is going to be hugely important. Someone’s race could be gone at the start so it’ll be interesting.
