14:05 Cheltenham: Sam Winner all the rage in Pertemps
Published:Sam Winner has been all the rage in the build up to Cheltenham given a victory in a Jumpers Bumper at Kempton and this support from the yard is the primary reason why is as short as 4/1 to win the Pertemps Final.
Trainer Paul Nicholls has labelled the horse as his best bet of the week and there is the belief that he is as much as 24lb well in off his current mark of 140.
Elsewhere, he has been highlighted as the best handicapped horse of the week and all of this indicates that he should take all of the beating.
However, there are some trends associated with the race that indicate that Sam Winner will not win the Pertemps.
Interestingly, each of the last nine winners have gone off at double-figure odds, while last year only one of the top 11 finishers could be found in the top half of the handicap, which is no surprise in a contest over 3m.
Top Of The Range (12/1) has some appeal towards the foot of the weights from the pairing of Nicky Henderson and Barry Geraghty, despite being handed a 5lb penalty for a win earlier in March at Sandown.
It is this penalty that has got him into the race and he has been shaping as if a step up in trip to 3m would be right up his street.
Meanwhile, he ran on from well back on his only previous appearance at Cheltenham, which suggests he should not be inconvenienced in any way by the demands of the final hill.
This pair are both six-year-olds and it is runners aged over eight that have held the upper hand of late, claiming six of the last seven renewals.
American Trilogy is a former Festival winner, is down in weight from a respectable run in a qualifier for this and has Harry Derham on board claiming a useful 5lb.
He is available at 16/1.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
