Top Cheltenham Festival prospect Peddlers Cross is
scheduled to run at Kelso on Thursday and will face eight opponents in the
warm-up race.
The Donald McCain-trained fancy missed a number of previous engagements
because of the harsh weather conditions which blighted racing at around the
turn of the year and then more recently as a result of a persistent cough.
However, the smart six-year-old is now back to full health and is expected
to romp away with the Victor Chandler Morebattle Hurdle if he can out-power
the challenge of Bygones of Brid and Orsippus.
Those starting to study the
Cheltenham
betting tips note that the former horse finished in forth behind
McCain’s charge in the Fighting Fifth at Newbury in November whilst the
latter won in good fashion during the Grand National Meeting last year.
McCain reported that the horse was in good health and schooling well at
home. There should be plenty of backers at Kelso and a good run may well
impact the current best price of 11/2 for victory in the Champion Hurdle at
the annual Cheltenham renewal.
Meanwhile, in other Cheltenham news there have been reports that
Forpadydeplasterer will not be running at the Festival. The popular Tom
Copper-trained winner of the 2009 Arkle has been struggling with some health
issues of late and it seems that Cheltenham may be considered too much too
soon by connections.
At the moment it appears more likely that a tilt at some glory during the
Punchestown Festival is on the agenda and this very good runner will be sure
to attract money from both sides of the Irish Sea to add to his impressive
list of victories.