Cheltenham Day Two Tips

It's Day 2 at Cheltenham...

The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase has become an eagerly-awaited Festival feature and is a race for true specialists.

Martin Keighley is a trainer who loves the contest and believes last year's unlucky runner up Any Currency has a great chance in this year's exciting renewal of the 3m 7f marathon run over a variety of different obstacles.

The 12-year-old certainly does look to possess the right sort of specialist profile and have outstanding claims. The gelding ran superbly in the race last season only to be agonizingly beaten a short head by Balthazar King, trained by Phillip Hobbs.

The son of Moscow Society has had three runs this season including two cross country races here and was a decisive winner over course and distance in December, scoring imperiously by twelve lengths ahead of Quantitativeeasing.

Get a FREE BET for every Cheltenham winner you back PLUS Bet 10 Get 30

The gelding has been raised 17 pounds since finishing runner-up at the Festival last year, however, Keighley feels his charge heads into the race with leading claims.

"Any Currency must have a massive chance in the Glenfarclas Cross Country race after winning there in December," the Gloucestershire handler wrote on his website.

"He's been trained specifically for this race since finishing a close 2nd last year and he carries all our hopes and dreams today - fingers crossed."

Revenge for last season's narrow defeat has been very much the target for the strong travelling son of Moscow Society who has won four of his 38 racecourse starts at a strike-rate of 10.5 percent and that statistic can be improved upon today.

The opposition is of course strong but there are question marks over most of his 18 rivals.

Philip Hobbs is a master at schooling his jumpers and having saddled the winner last year, the trainer runs Duke of Lucca but he surprisingly unseated his pilot Richard Johnson over course and distance last time.

His victory at Aintree in a listed contest in April when he beat Vino Griego was a career-best and that gives him a real chance here but the trip is an unknown and he must stay on his feet.

Chicago Grey is another specialist but his best days are surely behind him. His last course success was way back in March 2011 over four miles and the Gordon Elliott-trained veteran has lacked gears over shorter trips in recent times.

Meanwhile, French-raider Toutancarmont looks an obvious danger having won 12 of his 24 chases in his France. However, the eight-year-old son of Al Namix has raced mainly on testing ground and has yet to win over such a marathon trip. He was an odds-on favourite last time out for a race over a similar distance at Pau but fell and so there are plenty of unanswered questions.

Another true specialist of these type of races is Enda Bolger and he has just one runner this year in Quantitativeeasing. The six-time career winner was a disappointing odds-on favourite in the Cross Country Chase at Punchestown last month when he didn't jump well and finished fourth to Ballyboker Bridge.