Champions of Cheltenham 

King does it again - and so do the SwindonWeb tippers

 

Winners again: Alan King and Champion Hurdle winner, Katchit

What a start to Cheltenham for Swindon trainer Alan King - and the SwindonWeb tippers!

 

King's horse Katchit the winner of today's Champion Hurdle, the second biggest race of the Festival.

 

A win worth over £200,000 to the owners - and a few quid if you followed the SwindonWeb tips this morning.

 

The biggest profit scooped by Chris Piper, our regular racing pundit and landlord of one of Old Town's busiest boozers (guess what?) - The Kings!

 

"I love my racing," said Chris, "and I always follow local horses."

 

"Alan really knows his racing. But I have to admit I tipped Punjabi for a place when put on the spot by those lovely fillies at SwindonWeb.

 

"The fact that it romped in 3rd at 25/1 means I'm nicely in profit! So it's happy days at the Kings!"

 

Always in the running, Katchit pipped favourite Osana (tipped by fellow SwindonWeb gee-gee genius John Francome, at a profit of £2.50) by just a length in a hard fought finish.

 

Katch me if you can: Alan King with his next Cheltenham hope - Voy Por Ustedes (running on Wednesday)

 

A win that marks successive Cheltenham wins for Alan King's five-year-old, and bodes well for the Barbury Castle handler's other Cheltenham hopefuls - Voy Por Ustedes and My Way De Solzen, both who also won last year at the Festival.

 

"You'd be silly to back against them," added a jubilant Piper.