The Tipsters Tips 24/25

[Istabraq]

Does anyone know who Pricewise put up for the bumper by any chance? RP headline is a Willie outsider but I don't subscribe

Kaiser Ball 16/1
Fortune de Mer 33/1

[Eggs]

https://cheltenham.attheraces.com/blogs-and-tips/four-for-the-festival/four-for-the-festival-mike-cattermole

[Eggs]

Andrew Asquith has two more ante-post bets for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival in the Pertemps Final and Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle.

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Cheltenham View: Wednesday March 5


1pt win Karl des Tourelles in the Pertemps Final at 20/1 (Bet365, Ladbrokes, Betfred, Coral - all NRNB)

1pt win No Ordinary Joe in the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle at 14/1 (General - all NRNB)


It’s now less than a week before the Cheltenham Festival begins and the preview circuit is very much in full flow. I personally try to stay away from those, as time has taught me it can get you in trouble!

The markets are starting to form now and we are getting more and more of an idea of who is running where. The big news of course being that Brighterdaysahead will take on Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle and, if you add Lossiemouth and State Man into the equation, it is developing into a hum-dinger of a race.

I’ve been pondering over the Pertemps Final for a while now and I’ve come down on KARL DES TOURELLES. Irish-trained runners have won seven of the last nine renewals of the Pertemps and the five-year-old doesn’t look badly treated from a revised mark of 139 based on his runner-up effort to Franciscan Rock in a qualifier at Punchestown in November.

He was highly tried as a juvenile after defying odds of 100/1 to make a winning debut at Gowran, going on to finish runner-up in a Grade 2 at Fairyhouse before finding top-level assignments in Grade 1 company at Punchestown and Auteuil a little too taxing afterwards.

Karl des Tourelles looked a natural upped to three miles for the first time on his seasonal return and handicap debut, jumping efficiently and staying on all the way to the line after plotting a wider route into the straight than the winner who had a dream run through tight to the rail.

He also ran respectably back at two and a half miles in a minor event at Limerick over the Christmas period, too, a mistake at the fourth last halting his momentum, and having to be pushed along to move back into contention. Karl des Tourelles managed to do that, again enduring a wide passage, but leading briefly at the second-last before the energy he’d expended to get there told in the latter stages.


Karl des Tourelles has been kept fresh since and the forecast good-to-soft ground will suit him well. His lack of experience is a slight concern, while trainer Philip Fenton hasn’t had a runner at the Festival since 2014. That is down to a lack of firepower more than anything else, though, and he proved he can do it with the right ammunition when Dunguib won the Champion Bumper in 2009.

A strongly-run race will suit Karl des Tourelles well and, provided he jumps like he did at Punchestown back in a big-field environment, he should be bang there at the finish from this mark.

The Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle could be somewhat of a banana skin as Kopeck de Mee could have a couple of stone in hand from a mark of 136. He has been the most talked about horse since the weights were released, but he has more than one option, and you should never be scared of one horse, particularly when as short as 5/2 for a Cheltenham handicap; he will likely be much bigger on the day.

One horse who I think is overpriced and could be the subject of a gamble is another J.P. McManus-owned horse in the shape of NO ORDINARY JOE.

He is now a nine-year-old, and is yet to win at Cheltenham, but some of his best efforts have come at the track, namely when third in the Greatwood Hurdle in 2021 and when runner-up to Iroko in this race from a mark of 139 in 2023.

No Ordinary Joe was one of a select few from the Nicky Henderson yard who participated at the Festival last year and could only finish seventh, again in this race, but given horses from Seven Barrows were under a cloud at the time, that may not have been such a bad run, particularly in heavy ground.

His first two runs back this season were a little underwhelming, but served a purpose, and he very much caught the eye back over a similar trip to this when a close fourth at Warwick last month.

No Ordinary Joe was ridden by up-and-coming conditional Callum Pritchard for the first time on that occasion, not helping his young rider with a sloppy round of jumping, but he was far from knocked about, and I think he went into many people’s notebook with a view towards another crack at the Martin Pipe.

The handicapper has left him on the same mark of 138, which looks attractive based on the pick of his efforts and, returned to Cheltenham on what should be a sound surface, you can see him setting off shorter than the general 14/1 (standout 16/1 with Coral) available and running a big race.
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