17:15 Cheltenham: Carberry the man to steer Kid Cassidy to win
Published:Paul Carberry almost certainly produced the ride of the Cheltenham Festival last year when easing Bellvano through the field to land the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual and he has the perfect mount to do something similar this year with Kid Cassidy.
If anything, the waiting tactics have been too exaggerated on Kid Cassidy of late, but the jockey booking of Carberry for the first time is most interesting, given that he excels on this type of mount.
Kid Cassidy is 8/1 and this appears solid each-way value on the basis that he is 2lb lower than when he was sent off favourite for this exact race last year.
Four of the last six Grand Annual winners had failed in the race in the year previous, while he is 17lb better off with Shooters Wood for a nine-length Cheltenham defeat back in November.
Furthermore, the colours of JP McManus have filled the frame six times in the Grand Annual in the past decade.
Shooters Wood is 16/1 to win the Grand Annual and his love of the demands of Cheltenham is obvious, having triumphed in all of his three career starts at the course.
But his aforementioned hike in the weights has given him a difficult task to extend this sequence.
Tony McCoy has been a regular pilot on board Kid Cassidy, but he instead rides Alderwood, who is on track to be sent off favourite at 5/1.
Alderwood is the only Irish-trained horse in the field and in the last 13 renewals, they have conjured up four winners and another three runners up.
Anquetta is another one that makes the shortlist at 12/1 and would have most likely been the mount of Barry Geraghty if he was not running off such a feather weight.
He runs off 1lb less when taking fourth in the Grand Annual last year and this entitles him to have each-way claims again.
Meanwhile, punters struggling to make a firm decision on the Cheltenham Gold Cup may want to pick a horse at random with this roulette wheel.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
