Kevin Blake tips point Cheltenham Festival Horse Racing direction for day two

Kevin Blake has named a 66/1 fancy for the Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle and set out three day-two selections that frame how Cheltenham Festival Horse Racing markets and form are behaving. Blake’s column singles out Joseph O’Brien-trained Zeus Power in the opener and highlights a string of wide-open Grade 1 contests that are producing oversized prices and fresh betting angles.

Kevin Blake on Zeus Power in the Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle (1: 20 pm ET)

The confirmed current state: Blake identifies a 66/1 selection for the Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle, and he points to Joseph O’Brien’s ZEUS POWER as his likely biggest-priced pick for the race at 1: 20 pm ET. Blake notes recent form lines: Zeus Power is a son of Protectionist, won a maiden at Thurles in December by a very long way, and then ran in a rated novice hurdle at Navan where he beat the Gordon Elliott-trained Lazare De Star.

Blake frames that sequence as improvement over hurdles and cites a change to handicap rules that require horses to have had five runs over hurdles. He links that regulatory tweak to the presence of horses like Zeus Power in Grade 1 novice hurdles rather than in handicap routes, which helps explain why Blake finds a high-price Grade 1 entry attractive.

Willie Mullins’ Kaid D’Authie and the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (2: 00 pm ET)

The specific forces visible now: Blake calls the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase a wide-open Grade 1 and describes the Willie Mullins-trained KAID D’AUTHIE as “overpriced” after beating Final Demand at the Dublin Racing Festival. That Dublin result is the core evidence Blake uses to argue the market is under-reacting to Kaid D’Authie’s progress over fences.

Blake underlines Kaid D’Authie’s profile as a six-year-old with a strong physical presence and encouraging jumping technique, and he says a sounder surface should pose no problem. The combined facts — the Dublin Racing Festival win, the six-year-old billing, and the wide-open nature of the 2: 00 pm ET renewal — are the drivers shaping Blake’s view that Kaid D’Authie is a value proposition.

Scenarios around L’EAU DU SUD and Majborough for the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase (4: 00 pm ET)

If Majborough’s Leopardstown-level form continues: Article context notes one-way market traffic for Majborough after success at Leopardstown and the defection of Marine Nationale, and it records that Majborough was brilliant at Leopardstown. If that Leopardstown standard carries through to the faster ground and Cheltenham’s unique two-mile test, then the market momentum that has built for Majborough points to a likely winning chance in the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase at 4: 00 pm ET.

Should L’EAU DU SUD’s break-based peak pattern occur: Dan Skelton’s view in the day-two tips is that L’EAU DU SUD thrives after long breaks — the horse arrives after 95 days off and has won his last three races when fresh. The context also cites L’EAU DU SUD’s best past outing coming after 223 days off at the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham when he beat Jonbon by 15 lengths. Should that pattern of coming to hand after a layoff hold, L’EAU DU SUD becomes a very different proposition against Majborough at 4: 00 pm ET.

These two conditional scenarios draw on explicit signals in the columns: Majborough’s recent form and market movement, and L’EAU DU SUD’s documented record after long breaks. Each scenario is conditional — neither is presented as certain.

Based on context data:

• Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle noted at 1: 20 pm ET with Zeus Power highlighted.
• Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase noted at 2: 00 pm ET with Kaid D’Authie highlighted.
• BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase noted at 4: 00 pm ET with Majborough and L’EAU DU SUD featured.

Next confirmed milestone is the running of day two races, beginning with the Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle at 1: 20 pm ET and continuing through the Brown Advisory at 2: 00 pm ET and the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase at 4: 00 pm ET. What the context does not resolve is how Zeus Power will handle the steep class rise to a Grade 1 novice hurdle; the race outcomes at those ET times will supply the definitive signals that decide which conditional scenario materializes. Expect betting and form narratives to recalibrate immediately after those results.