Posting non horse-related issues will be light for the rest of this week, because the best four days of the year have arrived.
Cheltenham week is sacrosanct in the Pollard household. The other 51 weeks of the year are simply preparation for Cheltenham.
My ante post book this year is paltry. The halcyon Best Mate years (when I backed him at 20/1 for his first Gold Cup and then used a large slice of the profits every year to back him on the day of his victory for the next year's race) are over. I've had an long-standing each way investment at long odds on Pigeon Island, who happens to be my favourite horse in training, and that looks quite good as he's now down to 10/1 in the opener today. But I can't say I am certain he'll win, not least because I've been advised by the stable that Khyber Kim has to be backed, so I've done him as a saver.
I think the banker of the meeting runs in the last today. 11/4 about a horse carrying 11 stone 12 in a handicap seems cramped but I think Ahkazar at 11/4 is actually a huge price. For what it's worth, I've linked him with Noland in the 2.35 and Wonderkid in the 4.40.
My ante post bet in the Champion Hurdle was Bob's Pride, who runs today but I don't fancy him at all. I think, unoriginally, that Sizing Europe will win. But Catch Me looks best value to me at 10/1.
In the 4.00 my heart tells me King Harald, my head Abragante. So I've done both.
That's my book for today. Chances are none of them will win (although I really can't see Ahkazar getting beaten). If you want to take them as tips, do so with a very large health warning...