Character Building

Thursday Cheltenham Festival Races

Thursday is day three of the Cheltenham Festival with the Ladbrokes World Hurdle the highlight of the six race card.

Click on any of the race names below to get the latest odds for each race:

Time	Race
13.30	Jewson Novices Handicap Chase		Betting Offers
14.05	Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle		Betting Offers
14.40	Ryanair Chase	Form	Betting Offers
15.20	Ladbrokes World Hurdle	Form	Betting Offers
16.00	Byrne Group Plate Handicap Chase		Betting Offers
16.40	Kim Muir Challenge Cup		Betting Offers

Day three starts with the Jewson Novices Handicap Chase which is a Class A listed race over 2 miles and five furlongs. This will be only the sixth running, but so far only one favourite has won, Reveillez in 2006. Last year there was an impressive winner in the Paul Nicholls trained Chapoturgeon who won convincingly.

Second race of day three is the Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle a race in which entries must have qualified via the Pertemps qualifiers run during the season. Kayf Aramis was the horse who triumphed in 2009 after a strong performance. More information will follow when the qualifiers are known.

The Ryanair Chase over 2½ miles is next on the card, This is another race with only a short history but has proved to be a big success, particularly for top quality chasers who prefer this distance. The 2009 renewal was an excellent race and it was Imperial Commander who ran a brilliant race to win in good style. 2010 looks like being another competitive outing for the Ryanair Case.

Next up is the very popular Ladbrokes World Hurdle which is the feature race on Thursday and is a race won three times by the now retired Inglis Drever. 2009 saw Big Buck's beat Punchestowns in a close finish up the hill. It is likely to be a re-match between these two in 2010 so will be one of the best races of the week. 2009 pre-race favourite Kasbah Bliss may also be back looking for revenge after a poor running in 2009.

The penultimate race on the third day is the Byrne Group Plate (formerly Festival Plate) and it follows the World Hurdle. 2009 saw something of an outsider win when 33/1 shot Something Wells triumphed over some more well fancied horses. This is a race that can throw up a surprise so keep an eye on the contenders for 2010.

Finally on Day 3 is the Kim Muir Challenge Cup. A race run over 3 miles which is extremely difficult to find the winner from. It has produced ten double figure price winners in the last 14 years. This happened again in 2009 when Character Building came home a 16/1 winner. This is normally a wide open race so several horses involved will be with a shout in 2010.

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