Nicky Henderson Duo Looking For Cheltenham Glory In RSA Chase

The RSA Chase has become one of the big races of the Cheltenham Festival and takes its place just before the Champion Chase on Day 2 of the Festival. It has taken on more and more prestige in recent years and the 2010 race looks set to build on that already excellent reputation. The Betting for this years race is looking exciting with two Nicky Henderson horses leading the way and they are expected to battle it out for supremacy, a win here can often be a stepping stone to a Gold Cup run the following year. Denman was the brilliant RSA Chase winner in 2007 before going onto win the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup so it is also an excellent race when looking for future stars.

The first of the two Nicky Henderson charges with great chances is Punchestowns who has won two on the bounce so far this season and is likely to takes his place in the RSA Chase as one of the favourites. He ran an excellent race last year at the Cheltenham Festival when he chased the excellent Big Buck's all the way up the hill in the World Hurdle. That form has been franked by Big Buck's stunning form this season and now Punchestowns will attempt to go one better in the RSA Chase, on current form its difficult to look past him here and punters should watch him closely. The other Henderson runner with a big chance is the new kid on the block Long Run, he has burst onto the British scene this year and looks set for a bright future. The five-year-old had a great record in France before having his first run under Nicky Henderson in the UK on Boxing Day. He stormed home that day at Kempton and has since won as easily at Warwick to confirm his potential, this is a horse destined for big things and that may well start with the 2010 RSA Chase.

There are several other horses with chances in the RSA Chase Odds with Diamond Harry perhaps the best equipped of the rest to take on the Nicky Henderson duo. Diamond Harry started the season as a World Hurdle contender but after some poor runs was switched to fences. Since then his form has been transformed with two successive wins and the Nick Williams trained horse now goes to the Cheltenham Festival with every chance of scoring. Another with chances is Weird Al who has been gathering steady support all season, he has won his last four on the spin including last time out at Wetherby at the start of February. He looks to be in form at just the right time and considering he has only had three starts over fences could still have some improvement in him. On that basis he is a very dangerous runner in the RSA Chase who is offering good value for punters, this is a race with bags of quality in the field and could be one of the most exciting of the week.

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