Cheltenham pointers aplenty at Naas

Sunday’s action at Naas could have a significant bearing on the Antepost markets for some key races at Cheltenham in March.

All six runners in the Finlay Ford at Naas Novices Chase appear among the bet365 Antepost lists for a variety of contests at the Cheltenham Festival, including Embassy Gardens who tops their betting for the National Hunt Chase on the Tuesday of the Festival.

Embassy Gardens is 6/1 joint favourite for the National Hunt Chase with bet365, while Meetingofthewaters is as low as at 10/1 for the same race. Embassy Garden and Meetingofthewaters’ stablemate Stattler won this race two years ago enroute to landing the National Hunt Chase.

The Turners Novices Chase and the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham are other options open to these horses should they book their tickets to the Festival with a big performance on Sunday.

Bet365 have non-runner no bet markets on the five Championship races at the Cheltenham Festival - Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle, Ryanair Chase and Gold Cup.

This Naas contest over an extended three miles on Heavy ground will expose any flaws in this sextet’s Cheltenham aspirations.

Desertmore House is the one horse in the line up that may struggle with the ground conditions. The Kerry National winner is most likely being aimed at either the Aintree or Fairyhouse Grand Nationals in the Spring when the going should be more suitable for him.

Of the remainder, Letsbeclearabout it and Cool Survivor are on retrieval missions having disappointed on their recent runs, while Sandor Clegane has a tongue strap added for the time to try and eke out some improvement.

This race could well boil down to a match between stablemates Embassy Gardens, an impressive winner at Punchestown last time, and Meetingofthewaters who is on a hat trick, and whichever one prevails will shorten considerably for the Amateur riders’ National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham in March.

Elsewhere at Naas the performance of Jasmin De Vaux in the bumper will be keenly watched by those holding antepost vouchers on horses for the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham.

Willie Mullins has won this race in each of the last two seasons and his representative this time is already quoted at 25/1 for the Cheltenham race with bet365 prior to making his track debut.

Jasmin De Vaux was an easy winner of a Loughanmore point-to-point in April before being transferred to the Champion trainer and an impressive performance here could see him jump towards the head of the Cheltenham market.

Galway Hurdle winner Zarak The Brave, who runs in the Grade 3 Limestone Lad Hurdle at Naas is another horse that could secure a Cheltenham slot with a victory on Sunday’s card.

The four-year-old Maiden Hurdle has a number of potential candidates for Cheltenham’s two Juvenile contests, the Boodles Handicap Hurdle and the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle.

Last season’s winner of this Maiden Hurdle, Byker, finished a neck second in the Boodles Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham back in March.

The likes of Ndaawi (16/1), Base Note (33/1) and Mr Lincoln (33/1) are already quoted by bet365 for the Boodles, while hurdling newcomers Katakana (33/1) and Dutch Gold (401/) could see their Triumph hurdle odds tumble with a winning debut here.

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