Alan Shearer is keen to watch his namesake Shearer run in the 4.40 St James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase. Trained by fellow Betfair Ambassador, Paul Nicholls.
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The former Newcastle marksman and Betfair ambassador is just as excited as every horse racing fan for Gold Cup day. “Cheltenham is an amazing place and I can’t wait to watch all the action this week.
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“I really enjoy it – I used to have a share in a horse with a few of my pals. We’ve had some great days out and some bad days out, which is all part of the sport, isn’t it?
“There’s a special horse running on Friday, trained by Paul Nicholls, called Shearer, fantastic.
“I mean, Shearer, running in the St James’s, come on!
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Alan has history at Cheltenham, “I’ve been to Cheltenham and had a runner, with Augusta Kate, at the Festival. It was amazing to go into the parade ring, with the other owners and trainers it was brilliant. It’s a side you don’t usually see as a punter – it was brilliant to experience.
“I once had a winner at Cheltenham, not at the Festival, but Trials day, which was a 50-1 shot. Unfortunately, I was actually playing that day at St James’s Park.
“We had a horse called Akilak and the other owners, my mates, had gone down to watch the horse and half of my other mates were in my box during the game.
“I got into the dressing room, the manager did his team talk, and then I snuck my phone into the toilet to see if I could check on the result!
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The Paul Nicholls trained horse is currently 9/1 to win the race with Betfair and Paul is confident that his horse is ready for Friday.
''He was off for almost two years with injury before qualifying for this by winning twice inside twelve days last month. He has won over hurdles at Cheltenham and is a good solid chaser though it's not ideal to be having a third quick run after such a long time on the sidelines. I'm trying cheekpieces again because they brought quite a lot of improvement from him when we tried them before. Shearer has plenty of talent and has his chance in an open race in which the Irish looks to have a strong hand.''
Shearer runs on Gold Cup day of the Cheltenham Festival where we’ll see Galopin Des Champs attempting an impressive third win in the feature race. Previous winner, and Betfair Ambassador Rachael Blackmore will be battling for a different result as she rides Monty’s Star, who is currently 14/1 with betfair.
“I can’t wait to ride Monty’s Star in the Gold Cup. It’s going to be a fantastic race.”
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“Obviously, Galopin Des Champs is the one we all have to beat, but I do think that the drier ground and the extra few furlongs is all going to be a big plus for Monty’s Star.”
“His season got going a little later, he didn’t make his seasonal debut until New Year’s Day. He came on a lot for that run at Tramore, and he has come on again for his run in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown last time.”
“He ran really well in Cheltenham last year when he finished second in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. He’s very well in himself, and we’re really looking forward to him.”
Putting both horses in an E/W double is 149/1 on Betfair!
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Thomas Thorn