NOW the dust has settled on a truly wonderful four days of superb racing at Cheltenham it’s high time we started thinking about . . . next year’s Festival.

There were some unforgettable races last week, so we better sift through them all to come up with our ante-post yankee before the old memory packs up.

We managed to get Jonbon (8-1), Edwardstone (10-1) and Stattler (14-1) to the right races at considerably shorter odds this year but, unfortunately, they couldn’t quite hit the target.

Here’s our fab four. A £1 yankee would return over £80,000 if I have picked four winners!

Magical Zoe (Mares’ Hurdle) 12-1

There was a huge amount to like about Magical Zoe’s run in the Jack de Bromhead Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.

The race was won from the front by You Wear It Well in a race that clearly gave those horses ridden up with the pace a distinct advantage.

Magical Zoe was the only mare to make any impression from off the pace. She was ridden in the last four for the first half of the race and she even got a hefty bump that caused her to slip as she was trying to make ground on the wide outside after jumping the second-last hurdle.

If that wasn’t bad enough she was forced to switch approaching the last and she was giving weight away all round except for the winner and fourth-placed favourite Luccia.

To finish runner-up was an extraordinary performance. She should also improve for the longer distance of the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle and, as she has only had three hurdles starts, there’s plenty of natural progression to come.

Sandor Clegane (National Hunt Chase) 25-1

There’s always plenty of stamina on display in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.

The winner, Stay Away Fay, isn’t short on that front but just a length-and-a-half back in third Sandor Clegane ran the kind of race that screamed staying chaser.

He didn’t seem all that comfortable with the solid gallop and he was squeezed out early on when racing wide in the rear.

That left him much further back than was ideal but he kept picking them off as one-by-one his rivals started to empty.

Despite being caught six wide around the home turn and having to contend with favourite Corbetts Cross running out at the final hurdle in front of him, he came home best to finish third.

Paul Nolan’s ace looks like a chaser and he’ll be seven next year – the same age as six of the last nine winners of the National Hunt Chase.

CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2024 BETTING – WE ARE BETTING ON 24 RACES

A Dream To Share (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle) 6-1

The Champion Bumper has been a rich source of future winners down the years and the cream most definitely rose to the top this year.

Willie Mullins, incredibly, had seven of the first ten finishers but the Irish champion couldn’t quite win the Festival’s only flat race for the 13^th time.

John Kiely was the man to stop him. He had sent A Dream To Share to Leopardstown to land the big Dublin Racing Festival bumper when beating Fact To File.

They again filled the first two places with the runner-up getting the worst of a rough finish, while the winner swung widest towards the stands’ rail.

It’s very much stretching it to suggest he was in any way lucky and, when you consider his teenage jockey John Gleeson couldn’t even claim his usual 7lbs weight allowance, it was anything but.

The last three Champion Bumper winners to have returned to the next year’s Festival have yielded two Ballymore wins and Facile Vega’s second place in the Supreme.

A Dream To Share heads the market for the Supreme but that 6-1 could look a snip early next season.

Good Land (Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase) 25-1

As a seven-year-old with just six races behind him it looks extremely likely that Good Land will go chasing.

If that’s the case, the 25-1 on offer for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase might look a crazy price.

He ran well when fourth behind Impaire Et Passe in the Ballynore Novices’ Hurdle having already won a Grade 1 over 2m6f at the Dublin Racing Festival.

It wasn’t too much of a surprise to see him get slightly outpaced when the race got serious.

He was shuffled back in a bit of scrimmaging off the home turn before coming home well up the final climb in the manner of a strong stayer.

Owner Barry Connell registered his first Festival win as a trainer with Supreme winner Marine Nationale and he clearly has another horse with the potential to win on jump racing’s greatest stage.

A £1 yankee (total £11) on the four above horses would return over £80,000 if all four were to win, and several thousand if any combination of three were to win! (At advised prices, lowest return if three win over £2,500)

CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2024 BETTING – WE ARE BETTING ON 24 RACES