A horse racing game where the aim is to stop Kauto Star from winning the Gold Cup has been all the rage on internet forums and in offices around the country as people latch on to Cheltenham Festival fever.

The game, found at stopkauto.com sees you trying to take out Kauto Star by any means possible which includes shooting him in the neck and exploding a bomb underneath him. Whilst many horse racing fans have embraced the game some have taken it a bit more seriously and have complained about its content.

Even the Daily Mirror have reported on the popular game and their thoughts can be found here:

Daily Mirror - Stop Kauto

What is your best score on Stop Kauto? Let us know.

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Channel Four Racing’s Tommo has collaborated with three professional horse racing tipsters to bring you the first Cheltenham-Betting.co.uk horse racing tips podcast.

The podcast can be found here - Cheltenham Festival Podcast

The podcast contains the guests’ opinions and tips for the four main Champion races as well as their best bets and biggest lays of the 2008 Cheltenham Festival which is just weeks away.

Subscribe to the podcast to receive all future podcast productions. There will be an update released on the site on Friday 7th of March, the Friday before the Festival and more tips will be given based on the ground conditions that are expected and the likely runners.

What is the best bet of the Festival? Let us know your opinions.

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By the time the Festival comes round plenty of people are holding juicy looking vouchers about horses that are now much shorter prices than they were months ago. Others are cursing themselves for backing ante post as they have already done their dough with their backed horses being ruled out of their originally designated races.

With just a month to go to the Cheltenham Festival should you be looking to lay your money down now or should you wait for the day?

There is not much point in betting now unless your fancy is running in the next week and is likely to fall in price as a result of that run. In the next week or two bookmakers will start going NRNB (Non Runner No Bet) about the Cheltenham Festival and at that stage you don’t have to worry about backing a non runner as you will get your money back if it doesn’t make its intended target.

That’s all well and good but we still can’t be sure how the ground will ride during the Festival and at this stage it is worth keeping your money safe until the evening before the race. This is when the so called ‘day of race’ market will be available and  you can normally get your bets on with the minimum of fuss knowing who is running and on what ground.

You can of course wait until the day of the race but there is nothing worse than opening the Racing Post and seeing Pricewise has tipped up your main fancy and you can either only get £10 on at the advertised price or that price is long gone.

When do you think is the best time to get your Festival bets on? Let us know and we can make it as profitable as possible.

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Everyone knows Cheltenham drains very well and it is often the case that the Cheltenham Festival ground is on the firm side come March. Only a week before the Festival last year the ground contained heavy patches yet by Gold Cup day the ground was back on the firm side.

The last time the ground was officially heavy was almost 20 years ago (1989) so it seems for the near future mudlarks need not apply when it comes to the Festival. If you are backing a soft ground horse for the Festival then now is the time to start your rain dance.

After one of the wettest summers ever we have had one of the driest winters and it is going to take plenty of rain in the coming weeks to have anything softer than good to soft ground.

Where does that leave the punters? If the ground is genuinely good then it is time to back the speedier horses and the flat bred horses, who are used to firmer ground. If you are backing a soft ground horse for the Gold Cup then it is going to need to pour down the night before Gold Cup day and even that might not be enough.

So, the moral of the story, assume the ground will be good to soft at absolute worse and if the rain doesn’t come expect the softer ground horses to be very much outpaced.

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Black Jack Ketchum was hailed with almost as much hype as Kauto Star now receives after he won the Grade 2 Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2006 by an impressive nine lengths and then followed up with Grade 1 Sefton Novices Hurdle at Aintree with another easy win, this time by five lengths. Both races were won on the bridle with Tony McCoy seemingly literally laughing at his fellow jockeys as he cruised past them.

Since then he has failed to live up to expectations so what has gone wrong?

In those races he beat some decent horses such as Neptune Collognes who has won the Punchestown Gold Cup since. This would suggest he wasn’t just looking good beating poor horses . So what has the problem been then? One theory which I believe is he is not really a strong stayer at all. his speed was what enabled him to travel so strongly and as a novice stamina is not to thoroughly tested. This would explain why decent stayer Neptune Collognes was beaten.

Since his Aintree win, which was his  seventh win in as many starts, he has won just two of his subsequent seven races. The most promising run was possibly his second (admittedly by 13 lengths) to Mighty Man last season. He travelled very well but found very little under pressure, again suggesting stamina is not his strong point.

His latest start in January this year saw him pulled up towards the end of the race after a complete no show. He may also have some problems that haven’t seen the light of day but as far as his career is concerned I would love to see him contest the Champion Hurdle on good ground this year. It looks an open race and a strong pace over that trip may just bring out the best in him.

How do you think Black Jack Ketchum should be campaigned? Have we seen the best of him? Let us know your thoughts.

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The market for the Supreme Novices is starting to take shape and the recent wins of Khyber Kim at Newbury and Whatuthink at Leopardstown have attracted some interest from the bookmakers.

Oliver McKiernan’s Whatuthink was the game, all-the-way winner of the Future Champions Novice Hurdle and his victory was perhaps most notable in that it appears to have burst the bubble of Cork All Star. Jessica Harrington’s Champion Bumper Winner finished 3 lengths third here and confirmed the fact that his jumping would need to improve markedly if he is going to be a factor in a Cheltenham Novice Hurdle.

The winner has been cut to around 16/1 at the time of writing but that looks a little skinny for the shorter Novice race at Cheltenham as there is stamina in abundance in Whatuthink’s pedigree and doesn’t appeal as Supreme winner.

More interesting is the Nicky Henderson trained Newbury winner, Khyber Kim. Listed class on the flat he has had his problems with injury but appears to be highly thought of by his powerful yard and has been the subject of strong support since his opening victory. Perhaps, his potential fragility is a worry but he looks one to consider for that all important opening race of the 2008 Cheltenham Festival.

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The World Hurdle had been looking a bit of a dull betting heat with double champion Inglis Drever dominating the market but the Steel Plate and Sections Hurdle at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day has certainly given things a bit of a kick.

The race had been billed as mainly concerning Afsoun, Black Jack Ketchum and Witchita Lineman but Alan King’s Blazing Bailey proved much too strong for them all and recorded a convincing victory.

I’m not too happy with the result though as I had marked Blazing Bailey down as the stayer to follow for this season after his honourable third in the World Hurdle. I’d been primed and ready to back him this season as I was convinced he would impriove with another year on his back but he has turned in two abject performances and I was beginning to wonder if something was amiss.

Now, of course, after demolishing the Steel Plate field Blazing Bailey is down to around the 6/1 mark for the 2008 World Hurdle and whilst there is still some appeal in that price, it’s not what it should have been.

Pundits on Attheraces were not overly impressed with the standard of opposition put up against Blazing Bailey stating that the bookmakers have overreacted by cutting him to single figures for the staying crown. I have to disagree. I appreciate that the Jonjo O’Neill horses might not have been at their best but this looked a race full of quality and Alan King’s young horse has more scope than most at the top of the betting in this market and warrants very close inspection.

Give us your thoughts on the World Hurdle – Do you think Blazing Bailey is the horse to beat or is there an outsider way down in the betting that could give us a better run for our money?

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Osana won the Boylesports International Hurdle on Saturday by eight lengths from Katchit and is now only 8/1 to win the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. There is little doubt that he got an east lead on a day where a few horses were given too much leeway out in front and with several of his fancied rivals failing to show their best it may be wise not to get carried away with the form.

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Last year’s Champion Hurdle winner Sublimity is set to go off as favourite for his reappearance in the Boylesports International Hurdle on Saturday but the jury is still out on him in many quarters and he should come on for the run so makes no appeal in the betting for Saturday or for Cheltenham at this stage (should drift after this race).

One who appeals is Triumph Hurdle winner Katchit. Punjabi’s proximity to Katchit at Cheltenham and Aintree last season suggest that Katchit is at least ten lengths better at Cheltenham. If that’s anywhere near the case then Katchit will take all the beating on Saturday which will be his third run of the season. He will hold a fitness edge over half of his rivals and can be backed at 5/1 with Paddy Power for Saturday’s race and 9/1 with Coral for the Champion Hurdle itself. A win would see him cut to about 5/1 for the Champion Hurdle with an impressive victory taking off another point or two. The recommendation at this stage would be to back him each way for Saturday (looks sure to be in the frame) and have a win bet for the Champion Hurdle. At the very least you should be able to lay off next week for a nice profit.

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Twist Magic was backed into 2/1 favouritism for the Champion Chase after putting up an impressive performance in spite of the testing ground at Sandown. Voy Por Ustedes remains a 4/1 best price second favourite haveing been beaten into second for the second year running.

There is a slight doubt about Twist Magic as he fell on his only run at Cheltenham so far and with this price likely to stay until his next run it isn’t advisable to back him now.

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