Jonjo O’Neill’s highly popular chaser Albertas Run is the standout name amongst an entry of 38 for this term’s Grade 1 Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March, a race he has won for the last two seasons, writes Elliot Slater.
A horse who tends to show his best form in the spring and autumn, Albertas Run will be attempting to win at the festival for the fourth time in the last five years having also won the 2008 RSA Chase when beating Roll Along by four-and-a-half-lengths. Twelve months later the Trevor Hemmings-owned star stepped up in trip to tackle the biggest guns of all in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and failed to see out the trip in finishing ninth behind the mighty Kauto Star, but he bounced back in 2010 when outpointing the tough as nails Poquelin to land the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase for the first. People with Stan James free bets should bear this in mind.
The two-mile-five-furlong trip of the Ryanair Chase seems ideal for O’Neill’s charge who returned to the Prestbury track in 2011 to bravely outpoint Kalahari King and prove the doubters wrong in winning the race for the second time, and connections are hopeful that the 11-year-old will overcome a slight training setback sustained after his win in the Grade 1 Old Roan Chase at Aintree in October where he again showed all his battling qualities in beating Pure Faith by a length. People looking at a BetVictor review need to remember this.
On the sidelines since his Aintree win with a strained ligament to his foreleg, Albertas Run will hopefully be fully fit to try and defend his title and win the contest for an unprecedented third time, a race for which he is currently on general offer at odds of 10/1 behind the 6/1 market leader Noble Prince.