Champion Hurdle 2023 Ante-Post Tips: Street the 50/1 each-way value in the Grade 1 Tuesday showpiece
Only 14 horses remain for the 2023 Champion Hurdle, which takes place on Tuesday 14th March, and a fair few of them are unlikely to take their chance in a race that sees red-hot favourite Constitution Hill dominate the betting. However, our man Steve Chambers has veered away from the Nicky Henderson hotpot and is opting to back his stablemate in the each-way betting at huge odds. Check out his Cheltenham tip for the race here...
Unbeaten in all five starts under Rules, Constitution Hill has rapidly emerged as the star of the National Hunt sphere and last year's runaway Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner will return again on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival to try and claim Champion Hurdle glory. Dominant victories in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Christmas Hurdle, Nicky Henderson's superstar six-year-old is already around a 1/3 shot in the latest Cheltenham odds for the race and the Seven Barrows phenomenon will be many punters heading to Prestbury Park's banker.
He obliterated current Arkle Trophy favourite and stablemate Jonbon in last year's Supreme as he scorched clear of him in the closing stages to land Supreme glory by a whopping 22 lengths and a return to the Gloucestershire venue should see him strut his stuff again. He brushed former Champion Hurdle-winning mare Epatante aside in both his runs this season - with the latter being beaten by a 17-length margin at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, and his cruising speed will have his rivals struggling from a long way out.
The Willie Mullins-trained State Man, who is around an 11/4 chance with most betting sites, is likely to be Constitution Hill's biggest rival, and the Irish raider was a classy winner of the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown at last weekend's Dublin Racing Festival and he could be a notable threat. A fine winner of the County Hurdle at last season's Cheltenham Festival, the Closutton inmate will need to improve immeasurably from what he's shown on the track to date, as while he downed the former dual Champion Hurdle winner Honeysuckle - who is set for the Mares' Hurdle - State Man has yet to clash with a horse in the same stratosphere as Constitution Hill.
There's no doubting that State Man is still open to more improvement and he could be a player here, but he looks rather short against the market leader, who makes no appeal from a punting perspective and it's worth looking elsewhere for an each-way alternative.
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Impressive when winning last year's Triumph Hurdle, Vauban has struggled since venturing out of the juvenile sphere and he was comfortably beaten by State Man when they clashed in the Irish Champion Hurdle. Available around the 10/1 mark at the moment, Vauban failed to settle in the early stages of the Leopardstown Grade 1 in early February and ultimately was unable to live with his stablemate. Being five years old he could improve for a return to Cheltenham, but it's hard to fancy him to spring a shock and he looks too short.
There's a chasm in the betting between the top three in the market and the rest of the entries and the likes of Epatante and Honeysuckle could be seen locking horns in the Mares' Hurdle on the same day, so can be ignored in the ante-post look, so you have to venture further down the odds for a potential each-way player.
The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained I Like To Move It was a superb winner of the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham's November meeting and he's around the 50/1 chance for this, but that was a relatively poor renewal and while he carried top weight to victory he was comfortably dispatched in the Relkeel Hurdle on New Year's Day. The return to two miles will see him perform better, but he's not likely to have the class here.
One that could be worth watching is another Henderson runner in the shape of FIRST STREET, who is a best-priced 50/1 with bet365 and with them offering Non Runner No Bet, then it's worth taking a chance on him. Second to State Man in last season's County Hurdle when giving him 1lb, he showed he had improved when comfortably winning the Gerry Feilden at Newbury on his comeback run. Third in the aforementioned Relkeel Hurdle over 2m 4f at Cheltenham on New Year's Day, he finished behind some notable staying types in Marie's Rock and Dashel Drasher, so a drop back to two miles could see him flourish again. He may not be in the same league as Constitution Hill, but with the potential of a really small field lining up in the 2023 Champion Hurdle, he could be worth taking a chance on in the current betting.