Relkeel Hurdle Tips: Henderson Hot Streak Can Continue

The feature race on New Year's Day at Cheltenham is the Relkeel Hurdle, a race with quite the roll of honour. There may not be a superstar in the field this season, but it should still be a fascinating contest and Billy Grimshaw has made the case for his pick...

I won't pretend to be supremely bullish in here, this is a tricky race to be confident in and the only result that'd get my eyebrows doing a Carlo Ancelotti would be if outsider of the field Thunder Rock comes home first of the sextet. Even the Olly Murphy outsider on his best form would be in the mix, however it's worrying he's pulled up the last twice and even with Sean Bowen a positive jockey booking he's the one I put a line through.

Salver is the strong fancy of my colleague @RoadCheltenham for the Moore team and I can see the case, I'm just not sure he should be 2/1 on the basis of his form against this field. He was the best of those that turned up from the home team in the Triumph back in March, and that form looks solid considering the prowess Majborough has shown subsequently both back in Ireland hurdling and now over fences. He was fourth on seasonal debut in the Gerry Fielden at Newbury when looking positively itching for a step up in trip and that's exactly what he'll get here, at a course we know he likes, so his claims do stack up however there are some mighty fine animals behind him in the odds grids.

On each horse's best bare piece of form it's hard to argue Golden Ace should be anything other than odds-on considering she beat Brighterdaysahead (admittedly, the Jack Kennedy ride that day did not help the Irish wondermare) and we have seen what Gordon Elliott's star has subsequently done twice to the mighty State Man. Not far behind her would be Langer Dan, a horse I and plenty others have a real affinity with due to backing him in the Coral Cup in both 2023 and 2024 but a horse who cops plenty of flak from those who have not been celebrating with him due to his massive stagnation in the autumn and winter before bouncing right back in spring.

This season he has no hope of getting into the Coral Cup again and will be aimed at Graded prizes, so I do wonder if he could well be tuned up for this a valuable Grade 2. However, I'm willing to take Dan Skelton at his word and think with the price shortening as I type I can leave him be in the assumption he will still be a fair few pounds (or stone) off peak form.

The reason Golden Ace is not clear favourite in here is her defeat to kick off her season last time out behind LUCKY PLACE, a horse I think is being overlooked somewhat for this race and the one I'll be backing - to small stakes, as it is a competitive affair - to confirm the form. He is only six himself, a year younger than Golden Ace, yet must now give the horse he vanquished last time out weight here. He also must give weight to Langer Dan, which could be even tougher as he gave her weight and a beating in the aforementioned Coral Cup, however I am confident he is on an upward curve and think she can continue to show his improvement for a yard who must be on cloud nine following the exploits of Constitution Hill and Sir Gino over the Christmas period.

I expect Gowel Road to make this a stiff enough test, which I think will suit my fancy, and while Salver also likes to push the pace it'll be interesting to see what connections do with both Langer Dan and Golden Ace, who usually like to come with swooping late runs. Many put Golden Ace's disappointing fourth place behind Lucky Place on seasonal debut down simply to fitness, and maybe they're right, but I didn't really like how her effort faded with such a whimper and would be confident Lucky Place upholds that particular formline.

The presence of Gowel Road potentially stealing the race, the unexposed Salver and the unpredictable Langer Dan means it's not a hugely confident shout, but hopefully the first major race of 2025 yields a winning preview and the master of Seven Barrows is smiling once more come the post.