With freezing conditions cutting the sporting calendar to ribbons punters are keeping warm by focusing on the big antepost targets, not least the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle betting, in which it could pay to make an early investment in Khyber Kim to continue his relentless improvement shown in the 2009/10 campaign.
A distant 22nd of 27 in last season’s County Hurdle this isn’t a horse you’d immediately have flagged up as a major player in the two mile hurdling showpiece, but a retun to the track at Prestbury Park in November yielded a facile win in the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle, as Kyber Kim powered up the hill under a light weight to see off Harry Tricker by a couple of lengths.
A course specialist, he then took a whopping step up in class to face the likes of Celestial Halo (winner of the 2008 triumph Hurdle, second in the 2009 Champion Hurdle & a runaway winner of Wincanton’s Elite Hurdle) and Punjabi (winner of the 2009 Champion Hurdle) in the Boylesports International; his arrival into the elite ranks was rubber stamped that day as he again quickened to see off all comers.
That was a very smart display, and when you recall he was a better horse than the likes of Hurricane Fly when campaigned on the level (reached a mark of 106), and yet he can still be backed at 14/1 each way for the big one in March, he looks worth an interest since he has clearly improved significantly and loves Cheltenham.
If there is a question mark it may lie in the pre cold snap form of his stable, who although weren’t necessarily banging in the winners with the regularity of their pre Christmas precision, still had enough run well in defeat to suggest things may have been somewhat exaggerated, plus the Festival lies more than two months away.
Get on with Sportingbet or Stan James.
Tags: ante post, antepost, bet, bets, Champion Hurdle, cheltenham festival, khyber kim, tip, tips
