Cheltenham Supreme Novices' Free bet and analysis

Believe it or not, I used to be a horse racing writer and with Cheltenham starting on March 10 I thought I'd get back into it despite not having written about the noble beasts for nearly two years.

Horses come and go, the names change but the form figures remain the same. I have used John Whitley's excellent figures ever since I was able to get them free when I worked on the Teamtalk Racing Desk.

I subsequently went to work with John...though purely in an admin role...my O Level maths not enough to even discuss the mechanics of his methodology.

So, I'm previewing here the first race at Cheltenham and anyone foolish enough to follow my selection can negate the loss by getting a Cheltenham free bet - worth about twenty five quid - by clicking the link above.

So here goes...might be a bit rusty but one thing, I won't be is influenced by the racing media because I've not read anything about this year's Festival.

"Alan King's Medermit has an excellent chance of rewarding backers in the opening race of the 2009 Cheltenham Festival (13:30 - Supreme Novices' Hurdle) with the gelding boasting the best UK form over hurdles this season - achieved when winning at Ascot on his latest start.

I'm finding this really difficult...having not done it for so long...and WTF have they done with the reliable old Racing Post site??!...thank god, Whitley's figures never change.

The lightly raced ex-french gelding look set to be suited by the likely strong pace of this novice contest and although some of the lesser exposed types could well progress past him, the five-year-old holds solid place claims at the very least if reproducing that Ascot form. More rain would be a slight concern but if it stays dry then a price around 4/1 a place or 16/1 for the win looks tempting.

If Medermit is close up, then not far behind him will be the consist Golan Way trained by Sheena West. Following three excellent performances at minor tracks, the novice put up a fantastic performance in a valuable contest at Cheltenham - a race where the form has worked out very well before finishing behind the selection in that race at Ascot. His Cheltenham effort proved he was a gelding with a future and lost nothing in defeat to the gutsy Medermit. Golan Way has an improving profile and could run a big race.

Cousin Vinny is a little over-hyped on what he has achieved..is he written about so much because he won a race sponsored by the Irish horse race writers on his penultimate start? His price though is nothing short of shocking and although he ran well at Cheltenham in the bumper last season, this front running sort may find himself burnt out as they turn for home and at the end of the day be over-hyped.....watch out for another Irish entrant...perhaps Kempes or Go Nativ**I think I don't like Cousin Vinny because the film took the piss out of stutters--of whom I am a (proud) member.

That was harder than I thought...will stick to poker in the future.

Nicholls 'incredibly fat' - Denman

Trainer Paul Nicholls is still "incredibly fat" after his summer break according to Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Denman.

The Champion trainer winner returned to work between 7st or 8st above his ideal fighting weight.

And Denman says the trainer they call 'The Tank' is having a tough time shedding the excess pounds.

He told The Racing Post: "Nicholls has always been a hard man to get fit, but this year it's worse than ever.

"The problem started when he had a month off after the Gold Cup, and then he got very fat over the summer. Despite being back in work six weeks, he's still incredibly fat.

"We've got plenty of time before his reappearance on the Morning Line but, to be honest, he wouldn't be ready to be seen in public before then."

A trainer you can trust

This is Michael Wigham esquire. One of Newmarket's finest upstanding licensed trainers and always suitably attired for a day at the races. Yet incredibly Mr Wigham faces a record fine of up to £30k for breaking the non-triers rule for the second time in the past six months. Where's the justice?

National search confusion

I've given up trying to work out the way search engines operate after checking a piece I wrote about Grand National betting last year to see if it could be found with a search for "Grand National".

Now it was hardly a Pulitzer prize piece but it was short and straight to the point about the race and how people bet on it. Now, I didn't expect to be number one or indeed on the first page and some would be happy to be on page three but I feel a little aggrieved because of the irrelevance of some pages ahead of me.

The official site is in there which is, of course, fair enough and with the race being centred on betting there are a couple of Grand National free betting offers sites in the list. Some other websites are selling tickets and with Aintree being sold out recently this once again this is once again fair enough. There is a band called Grand national who, I suppose, deserve to be on the list though I've not heard any of their tracks while some national newspapers also make the top 20.

There are some rogue entries like the National Archery Society and some far from natural looking horse racing sites though I most most annoyed to finish the Grand National search engine horse race behind the Scottish National and the insignificant version from the Isle of Wight!

Anyway, who am I to wonder? I've been paid for the work so whether it's number one or number 100 why should I care! Just boredom I think. When do Rot Weiss Essen play next? The winter break in German football is far too long.