Key Points
- Today’s betting tip has previous Cheltenham Festival form in the book
- He’s been campaigned for this all season and the handicapper has given him a golden ticket!
- The cheekpieces worn last spring return and Derek O’Connor takes the ride
We now move onto my second article for Day 3 of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival! Before I start, if you missed my betting tip for the
Jack Richards Novices' Limited Handicap Chase, which was published earlier, then please give that one a read, as the flag goes up at 14.00 for that one, and I believe my selection has a huge chance.
For this article I’m discussing the Kim Muir. I’ll stick with that, as the official name of the race is a bit of a mouthful: The Rosconn Group Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys' Handicap Chase. With that out of the way, I have a strong bet for you in this race!
If you’re not already familiar with my content here, what rock have you been living under? Jokes aside, I’m RacingGav and I’m the resident horse racing expert here at Betting.co.uk and I have been since the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. My main task here is to provide you with
free horse racing tips, and I’m sure that’s why you’re reading this article right now.
Away from here, I run my own Discord server where you can see all of my betting tips, not just the free ones I publish here, and the details for that are at the bottom of this article. At the end of last week, I covered the two feature races for Day 3,
the Stayer's Hurdle, and
the Ryanair Chase. Last but not least, my Lucky 15 for today’s action will follow shortly. Incidentally, my Day 2 Lucky 15 gave us a return, with a 10/1 winner in Jingko Blue, and a 16/1 place with Break My Soul. We were also unlucky not to have more from Bossman Jack and Quiryn, proving that it's always worth giving them a quick go.
Betting advice
- 17:20 Cheltenham (Kim Muir Handicap Chase) -
Jeriko Du Reponet
@ 7/2 -
2pt Win
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The prep has been done and now it’s time to execute the plan!
Between them, Jeriko Du Reponet's trainer, Nicky Henderson, and jockey, Nico de Boinville, have managed to get this horse down to a mark of 145 and into the Kim Muir. So it seems that the hard part is done, and now it’s over to Derek O’Connor to complete the mission.
Jeriko Du Reponet has had a rather strange career to date. He won an Irish PTP by 11 lengths, beating The Other Mozzie (141) and As Legends Have It (115). He started life under Rules with Nicky Henderson, and won all three of his Hurdles races, including the Grade 2 Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle, which is a Supreme Trial. He then took his chance in the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, but failed to fire.
After a break, they sent him over fences, but he pulled up on debut at Sandown. He got upset when being saddled and completely lost his head, which ruined his chances before he even made it onto the track. He was switched back to 2m over Hurdles, where he finished fifth. Then after a 71-day break, he ran in the Exeter qualifier for the Pertemps Network Final at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, where he finished in second place. He was beaten by stablemate Doddiethegreat that day, but next time out at Punchestown Jeriko Du Reponet reversed the form.
Those runs at the Cheltenham and Punchestown were in 24- and 23-runner fields respectively, providing valuable experience for him. His Cheltenham run proving that he performs here, and is now able to handle big occasions. For this year's Kim Muir, we have another huge field of 24, and as this type of race seems to bring out the best in him, let's hope he works his magic again!
Jeriko Du Reponet has been campaigned for this and the handicapper has given him a golden ticket!
Following another break, Jeriko Du Reponet had three runs back over fences. The first two were over inadequate trips of 2m 2f and 2m 4f , with fields of just five and two, respectively. Both were run on sharp tracks, namely Kempton and Wincanton. He then stepped up to 3m 0.5f at Windsor in the Grade 2 Hampton Novices’ Chase, but Windsor didn't suit him at all, and the race wasn't run to his liking either.
As a result of these three runs in unsuitable races, his mark has fallen from 149 to 145, and that last 4lb drop allowed him to sneak into the top of the Kim Muir Handicap Chase, which is limited to horses rated 0-145. The last time JP McManus snuck a horse of his in here off a mark of 145, that horse was Inothewayurthinkin. He went on to win the race, win a Grade 1 Novice Chase at Aintree and then win the Cheltenham Gold Cup the following Spring. Now I’m not saying he’s going to go on and be a Gold Cup horse but I certainly feel he’s a good deal better than his mark of 145 and he’ll be stepping up into Grade 1 company after winning here.
The cheekpieces worn last spring return and Derek O’Connor takes the ride
In case you needed any more convincing that they have been targeting this horse at the Kim Muir Handicap Chase, just look at the headgear situation. Throughout his career he has not worn headgear. Then for both Cheltenham and Punchestown last season, he wore cheekpieces and he put in two career best performances. However, those cheekpieces have been missing in his three runs to date this season. Now that he has his reduced mark of 145 secured and he is qualified for the Kim Muir, the cheekpieces magically reappear here.
What I also find interesting is that JP McManus’ go to Amateur for these types of races - Derek O’Connor, has been booked to ride. He won this race for the same owner back in 2024 and he was a close second last year. This horse can be lazy but ironically that has suited in terms of getting him well handicapped. The reasoning being that if you aren’t asking him for an effort, he isn’t giving you one. However, now that they apply first time cheekpieces to sharpen him up and they also bring Derek in to ride, whose booking is always an advantage amongst these amateur jockeys.
Can Jeriko Du Reponet win the Kim Muir?
As always, we have to weigh up the positives, the negatives and the price when deciding upon a bet. As you can see from the above, the positives are overwhelming but in a good way! I think he is a Grade 1 horse in a handicap, he has previous Cheltenham Festival form, he stays the trip the cheekpieces return and Derek O’Conner is booked to ride!
In terms of the negatives, Jeriko Du Reponet’s chase record does sit at 0/4 currently but I think that is by design as part of a much bigger plan, such as winning at the Cheltenham Festival! The time has now come for the master plan to be actioned! All of that said, I’m struggling to find much else in the way of negatives. Some would have a pop at his jumping over fences but stepped up in trip, on this ground and with Derek in the saddle, I’m sure we’ll see a much improved performance.
Finally we have the price to consider. At the moment, the price is sitting at 7/2, which means that the market believes he has a 1 in 4.5 / 22.22% chance of winning. In my opinion, he has a stronger chance than that suggests. At that price, it suggests that if we ran this race 100 times, he would only win 22-23 and I think the real percentage would be far higher. If anything, I think his price is only going to shorten on the day, especially if any of his seven runners from the prior races on Day 3 produce a winner(s) for JP. At the price, I think Jeriko Du Reponet is worthy of a strong 2pt Win bet and hopefully he can add Day 3 for us with a bang!
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