Cheltenham Tips: Ruby Walsh’s ante-post Ryanair Chase bets include a 7/2 play

*Odds quoted on the widget are Future Racing / Antepost prices which means that if your selection does not run in the race for whatever reason – you will lose your stake under traditional Antepost rules.

Ruby Walsh’s Ryanair Chase Antepost Tips:

Fact To File
Jungle Boogie (each way)

Paddy Power Media’s ‘From The Horse’s Mouth’ podcast ‘Cheltenham Countdown’ is back as host Tom Nugent picks the brains of the Cheltenham Festival’s winning-most jockey turned TV pundit Ruby Walsh and well-known journalist and broadcaster Rory Delargy.

On the first of this year’s series, the gang have looked at the Ryanair Chase ahead of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.

RUBY WALSH

Whatever way you looked at it pre-season, Galopin Des Champs was going to Leopardstown at Christmas,  the Dublin Racing Festival (DRF) next month and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March. For Fact To File, a lot depended on how he got on this season as to where he runs at the  Cheltenham Festival.

He beat Galopin Des Champs into third at Punchestown first time up this season and I expect him to run at the Dublin Racing Festival next month and that will determine what race he ends up in, come March. If Galopin Des Champs beats him again comprehensively in February, I can see Fact To File heading for the Ryanair Chase.

He’s already been beaten by Galopin Des Champs at Leopardstown over three miles at Christmas. If he were to lose to him again next month, what would make you think he can beat him at Cheltenham over 3m 2f?

Fact To File isn’t ready mentally to be a Gold Cup horse.

He doesn’t race like a long-distance chaser, as we saw in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown. He doesn’t settle and switch off, he was too tense. He didn’t jump as well as he can.

If Fact To File wins at the Dublin Racing Festival, he’ll go for the Gold Cup at Cheltenham. If he finishes a solid second, he’ll still need a valid excuse as to why he was beaten, otherwise he’ll be off to the Ryanair Chase.

If he’s only a length back at Leopardstown next month, then you could make an argument for sending him to the Gold Cup.

There’s the question of how you ride him as well. You either go forward, or you hold him back. Will he go forward and try to take Galopin Des Champs with him? Or do you go back to the back of the field and leave Galopin Des Champs in front? That’ll be up to JP McManus, jockey Mark Walsh and their team as to what they decide to do.

Ryanair Contenders

For El Fabiolo, the aim will be to get him to the DRF and then go from there. I’m not certain he’ll get there, though, as it could come too soon for him. I wouldn’t expect Willie Mullins to send him over without a run.

Cheltenham is the aim for Gaelic Warrior and he will have stepped forward from his run at Christmas. If he wins over two miles at the DRF, I expect him to end up in the Champion Chase.

Jonbon and Energumene are set to face off on Saturday in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot, but whatever of Willie Mullins’ wins at two miles at the DRF will go to the Champion Chase.

The King George VI Chase runner-up Il Est Francais could also be of interest, as he’s near the top of the ante-post market. I’d come back to two miles with him and the Champion Chase could be a realistic target as there isn’t an out-and-out frontrunner in there. That race could suit him best, but it’s possible he heads to the Ryanair Chase instead.

If I were backing anything now ante-post, I’d side with Fact To File. I don’t see his price getting much bigger after the Dublin Racing Festival, so I’d chance him now.

One at a bigger price to keep an eye on is the lightly-raced Jungle Boogie, especially as he’ll be going left-handed again and can run a big race.

His Gold Cup run last year was fabulous (finished sixth) and he wasn’t suited by Ascot in December, but he still won.

Ruby Walsh’s Ryanair Chase Antepost Tips:

Fact To File
Jungle Boogie (each way)

*Odds quoted on the widget are Future Racing / Antepost prices which means that if your selection does not run in the race for whatever reason – you will lose your stake under traditional Antepost rules.

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