I was blown away by this 16-1 tip in a race that throws up Cheltenham Festival winners

IT’S less than four weeks now until the Cheltenham Festival kicks off and we learned a bit more at the weekend despite the wet weather.

The one to take from Newbury with a Festival win in mind is clearly IBERICO LORD who was very impressive when taking the Betfair Hurdle.

Nicky Henderson’s hope is easily good enough for a County Hurdle but you need to be brave to back him.

That’s because he needs soft ground to show his best.

I’m holding my horses until we see what the weather does in mid-March.

It was borderline unraceable when he won the Greatwood Hurdle in November and soft is a generous description of Saturday’s conditions.

He completely blew out on quicker ground at Ascot at Christmas and that’s the worry.

So if it’s soft or heavy on the final day of the Festival he’s a cracking County Hurdle prospect but not if it’s quicker. It’s a watching brief.

SHISHKIN advertised his each-way prospects by winning the Denman Chase but we’ve already flagged him up to make the frame in the Gold Cup.

EDWARDSTONE is another past Festival winner who did his prospects no harm when winning the Game Spirit Chase.

Dropping back to two miles after a poor run over further last time did the trick as did going from the front for the first time in his long career.

His jumping has always been excellent so it was no shock to see him pinging around Newbury and he is definitely in the each-way picture for the Champion Chase.

But he didn’t beat a lot here with Boothill saving his best for right-handed Ascot, Amarillo Sky going lame and Funambule Sivola being well short of Festival championship class.

He will need to take a massive step up to get close to hotpot El Fabiolo but this is better form than the likes of Jonbon have been producing so he could fill the forecast spot next month.

One race that may have slipped under the radar was EAGLE FANG winning at Naas on Saturday.

This modest-looking contest has provided no fewer than four of the past five Fred Winter winners at the Festival.

William Durkan’s four-year-old travelled really nicely and drew well clear of his rivals in the closing stages to suggest Cheltenham’s hill will be ideal.

He could do with cut in the ground but he has handled good to soft.

This puts him right in the Fred Winter reckoning at the 16-1 on offer with Betfair Sportsbook or the 12s everywhere else.

BET: EAGLE FANG each-way in the Fred Winter Hurdle at 16-1

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