Meeting -
The Festival, Dates - Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, March 12 - 15
First
race - 1.30pm each day
Tickets
available from www.cheltenham.co.uk or by calling 08445 793 003
A new record of 61 entries has been received for the Grade One Ladbrokes
World Hurdle, with record prize money of £275,000, on day three of The
Festival, St Patrick's Thursday, March 14. The previous highest number of
entries was 56, while the maximum number of runners is 24.
Big Buck's, who set a new record by winning the past four renewals, is
not among the entries due to injury but his trainer Paul Nicholls has six in
the 2013 three-mile hurdling championship headed by Grade One-winning chasers Tidal
Bay (6/1 with the sponsor) and Kauto Stone (20/1) plus unexposed
French import Wonderful Charm (25/1).
Oscar Whisky (7/1) has been in imperious form this
season, winning the Grade Two Ascot Hurdle and the Grade Two Relkeel Hurdle at
Cheltenham by an aggregate of 28 lengths. The eight-year-old heads seven
entries for trainer Nicky Henderson and could clash with impressive Grade One
Long Walk Hurdle victor Reve De Sivola (8/1), trained by Nick Williams,
in the Grade Two Rewards4Racing Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham on Festival Trials
Day, Saturday, January 26.
Other notable British-trained entries include Peddlers Cross
(10/1) David Pipe's pair Grands Crus (12/1) and Dynaste (20/1)who
have been running in chases, as well as exciting novice hurdler Coneygree (16/1),
trained by Mark Bradstock.
The 17 Irish-trained entries are headed by 10 from champion trainer
Willie Mullins, whose possible representatives include four-time OLBG Mares'
Hurdle heroine Quevega (the 5/1 favourite with Ladbrokes) and Grade One
winners Zaidpour (14/1) and Thousand Stars (14/1).
Monksland (8/1), trained by Noel Meade, relished
the step up to three miles when a comfortable winner of the Grade Two Christmas
Hurdle at Leopardstown, beating Zaidpour by two and a half lengths. The pair
had previously met in the Grade One Hatton's Grace Hurdle over two and a half
miles, with Zaidpour coming out on top by the same margin.
Monksland, who has not
been out of the first three in seven starts under Rules, is now being prepared
for a trip to Cheltenham.
Meade said on Tuesday:
"All is well with him at the moment and the plan is to run Monksland in
the Ladbrokes World Hurdle. I am just giving him an easy time - a bit of break
- and then we will start building him up for Cheltenham.
"We were hopeful he
would get the three miles at Leopardstown because he was staying on well in the
Hatton's Grace Hurdle but maybe the way the race was run suited us. The leader
went off at a hell of a gallop and perhaps the favourite followed him sooner
than he should have, but Paul (Carberry) was very good on Monksland.
"With Big Buck's out of it, the World Hurdle has opened up.
Monskland obviously stays well but he isn't a slow horse and has the speed to
win over two miles.
"The plan is not to run him before Cheltenham and we are hoping
there could be a bit more improvement to come from him. We have been purposely
easy on him, as he is a very clear winded horse and doesn't take a lot of work
to get fit. We are hoping by keeping him fresh that we will be able to prolong
his longevity."
Another notable Irish
entry is Dermot Weld's 2010 Ascot Gold Cup hero Rite Of Passage (not
quoted by Ladbrokes), who defied a 510-day absence to win Grade Three QIPCO
Long Distance Cup, also on the Flat, at Ascot in October. He has won on two of
his three starts over hurdles and came third to Peddlers Cross in the Neptune
Investment Management Novices' Hurdle at The Festival in 2010.
Hayley O'Connor of
Ladbrokes said: "The absence of the heroic Big Buck's means this year's
race is the most open it has been for years. We're extremely pleased to see the
depth and quality of the entries which suggests this will be a highly-competitive
and intriguing renewal of the Ladbrokes World Hurdle."
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