Byrne Group Hcap Chase

A handicap chase over 2m 41/2 furlongs. Formerly known as the Festival Plate.

Festival Plate Trends

10/10	had won at Class Three or higher
9/10	had run within the last forty days
9/10	recorded a top five finish in their most recent race
9/10	had between three and fifteen runs over fences
8/10	had run at a previous Cheltenham Festival
8/10	carried 10st 9lb or less
8/10	had an official rating of 128-139
7/10	aged between six and nine

Byrne Group Plate Analysis

This race seems to have thrown up some quite concise trends and if you add into the mix that the Irish raiders have only won this race once since 1951 we could have very few contenders left once applying the statistics.

Yet again we see stats that throw up the need for carrying a weight in a Festival handicap of under 11st at the Cheltenham Festival.

Don't be afraid to take a chance on a bigger price selection or even split your stakes and back two in this race as the favourite has a poor record here with Majadou the last obliging market-leader back in 1999!

Festival Plate Last Ten Winners

Table below shows the last ten winners of the race, their age and weight at the time of winning, trainer, jockey and odds (starting price).

Year	Horse	Age	Trainer	Jockey	Price
2011	Holmwood Legend	10-10-6	P Rodford	K Burke	25/1
2010	Great Endeavour	6-10-1	D Pipe	D Cook	18/1
2009	Something Wells	8-10-7	Miss V Williams	Mr W Biddick	33/1
2008	Mister McGoldrick	11-11-7	Mrs S Smith	D Elsworth	66/1
2007	Idole First	8-10-7	Miss V Williams	A OKeeffe	12/1
2006	Non So	8-11-3	N Henderson	M FItzgerald	14/1
2005	Liberthine	6-10-1	N Henderson	Mr S Waley-Cohen	25/1
2004	Tikram	7-10-0	G L Moore	T Murphy	12/1
2003	Young Spartacus	10-10-9	H Daly	R Johnson	16/1
2002	Blowing Wind	9-10-9	M Pipe	R Walsh	25/1

Byrne Group Plate Preview

Three training yards have dominated this race in the last ten years with two wins apiece for Martin Pipe/David Pipe, Nicky Henderson and Venetia Williams.

It makes sense to assume that a race where a trainer has had previous success will be targeted again in the future so make note of any entries from these three powerful yards.

Look out for horses who have run well at the Festival (or who have experienced the phenomenon before) as they are usually equipped to run well there again and it doesn't necessarily need to be in an equivalent race as winners of this race have previously run in the County Hurdle!

With a 66/1, 33/1 and three 25/1 winners in the last ten years in the Festival Plate it would seem that taking a speculative approach is the best policy to this race!

Byrne Group Plate Preview

Finding an ante-post winner is never easy at the Cheltenham Festival and trying to find the winner of one of the handicaps before the entries are released makes that job even harder but one horse stands out to us in the handicap lists for the Festival and that is Salut Flo.
Trained by the Pipe stable who have a great history in this race, Salut Flo was making eye-catching progress in the big Spinal Research Handicap over course and distance in December only to make a crashing blunder at the third last and losing all chance. This lightly races seven-year-old would surely been involved in the finish of that ultra completive handicap but has amazingly been dropped a pound by the official handicapper. This must give this horse a huge chance off its current handicap mark and it can be no coincidence that the Pipes have saved this horse for the Festival.
If all is well with Salut Flo and he turns up at the Festival he could well be backed into favouritism for this race so taking a risk on his attendance looks worth taking at the tasty 20/1 offered by William Hill and Paddy Power

Back Salut Flo at 20/1 with Paddy Power (odds available at time of writing)