Emma Lavelle - Yahoo Sport UK’s columnist: Up the ante with Thistlecrack

Top British trainer Emma Lavelle is Jumps Racing Ambassador for Bet4Causes and columnist for the Racing Plus newspaper. In her brand new column, exclusively for Yahoo Sport UK, she looks ahead to the 2017 Cheltenham Festival and marks your card for Saturday’s meetings…

MUCH-LOVED and dearly missed Sir Peter O’Sullevan was once asked: “What is the secret to longevity?”

He mused for a moment, then pulled out of his top pocket a slip of paper, smiled, and offered it to the questioner with the words: “Always have something to look forward to – an ante-post bet. I find it keeps one going.”

That is sage advice. Often the value is to be found in having a long-range sortie.

So having reflected upon Cheltenham, there are a few horses that already tempt me for the 2017 Festival.

World Hurdle hero Thistlecrack was undoubtedly one of the highlights, but what course will Colin Tizzard plot? He is a tall horse and he’s an eight-year-old. Conventional wisdom is to send them jumping sooner rather than later, as the older they are when they see a fence, the less likely they are to take to them.

The Grade 1 Liverpool Hurdle is an obvious immediate plan, but you are not going to get rich at current odds of 1/3.

The winner’s prize money for the World Hurdle was over £170,000, so why would he go for the RSA Chase (for which he is priced as short as 3/1), which had prize money of £85,000? Far better to back him at 3/1 to win the World Hurdle again.

Thistlecrack was not really respecting one or two of his hurdles at Cheltenham, so if he does go novice chasing next term – and he has reportedly schooled well – the Gold Cup has got to be the target and the 10/1 currently available looks fair, for what may be a mouth-watering clash with Vautour, Don Cossack, Coneygree and Djakadam.

Faugheen is 2/1 to win the Champion Hurdle and while those odds look skinny now, wait until he wins over Christmas – he is likely to be odds-on come March 14.

The each-way value, however, lies with Triumph Hurdle winner Ivanovitch Gorbatov, who adds depth to an already deep-in-talent two-mile division. Initial 20/1 quotes have gone, but 16/1 is still available about the next Istabraq.

Douvan will probably win the Champion Chase, but he is already odds-on in some places to head a division that is lacking in depth.

Our runners will also be thin on the ground this week. Rain is forecast again over the next few days and I’m left tearing my hair out again.

She may be a fancy price, but as long as the ground stays good, Woodland Walk (1.25 Haydock) would have an each-way tinkle. She has not run since early December, but she has worked well and is a consistent mare.

For the Lavelle Lucky 15 today, Ulk Du Lin (3.15 Newton Abbot) has to concede weight all round in the 2m handicap chase and if the ground does not come up soft, he should be able to confirm previous form with Miss Tenacious.

Hermitage Bay (4.00 Kempton) was a long way clear of the rest when beaten at odds-on at Southwell and should make amends in the 7f maiden.

Roger Varian has been exuding confidence over Postponed (4.20 Meydan) and looks the one in the Dubai Sheema Classic.

And since Roger’s string is in fine early-season form, Barsanti (2.50 Kempton) is worth a nibble in the 1m3f Rosebery Handicap.

Finals flourish

THE All-Weather Championship Finals Day at Lingfield is now etched into the racing calendar and it has also started to capture the public’s imagination.

First the major negative. Good Friday racing is not for us. Can we please have one day, other than Christmas Day, where we don’t have any racing? Staff up and down the country need a well-deserved break. Just one day – that’s all we ask.

But there are plenty of positives about the Finals Day, aside from its Good Friday slot. Admittedly the concept received something of a lukewarm response when it was unveiled three years ago. And while the wave of acceptance has been more ripple than rip, it is certainly starting to make a splash.

It works on several levels. There is a narrative for a start. It fills a major void before the turf Flat season and the prize money – £1.1million of offer across the seven races – was always going to attract high quality horses.

Then there is the familiarity of runners, which is not something always associated with the ‘other’ code. It is also a fine precursor to the Dubai World Cup.

But most of all, ARC have provided a blueprint that works. It would be interesting to see how many courses latch on to the idea of holding their own Finals’ Days, which are open only to horses which have competed at the course in the last 12 months.

I’d like to see more of them. It would encourage loyalty from owners and trainers, and give the marketing men at even the most mundane of tracks something to chew on. You can only go so far with the obligatory Ladies’ Day.

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