Cheltenham Clues: Chantry House cut for Festival Plate Handicap Chase

Chantry House defied a penalty to bounce back to winning ways, producing an impressive performance to land a Novices’ Chase at Wetherby.

Last year’s Supreme third made easy work of useful sort Coconut Splash to win by 3 lengths and make it two victories in three runs since switching to fences.

Nicky Henderson’s prospect has now seen his price from the Festival Plate Handicap Chase cut from 9/1 to 7/1, while he has trimmed from 25/1 to 16/1 for the Marsh Novices’ Chase.

Ballybegg strengthened his case for a Festival ticket in the opener at the West Yorkshire course, as he claimed his second win in three starts over hurdles.

The six-year-old made all and pulled all out the stops to hold off the late challenging Papa Tango Charly, winning by just a head.

Currently a 66/1 shot for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, trainer Kerry Lee stated on the matter that she will need to ‘have a serious think about (the Ballymore)’ and ‘if there’s cut in the ground then we’ll have to have a look.’