Garrity picks the Friday Morning Cheltenham Gold Cup - a 3 1/4 mile steeplechase

We have a special Friday play for a special race: it’s the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the climax of the four-day Cheltenham Racing Festival in western England, a sensational celebration of all things steeplechase. This is a 3 ¼ mile race, over jumps, and watching it will be the best six minutes you spend today. Let’s go.

Cheltenham, Race 4, 11:30 am ET

Group 1 Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase, 3 ¼ miles (Hurdles), Turf, 5 & Up

Eleven go in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. We’re all in on superstar steeplechaser 6-Galvin, an Irish-bred who has won 12 of 19 career starts over jumps, and who should thrive on the good-to-soft going. He was lightly raced last year, running just four times, but he won three of them, and while he comes into this race off a bit of a layoff, having last run in the Group 1 Savills Chase at Leopardstown in Ireland in late December, a race he won, the time away is not a worry for us, as the Savills was a taxing race for Galvin – he prevailed by just a nose after a long stretch battle – and we think the rest will have him in fine feather for his run at the Gold Cup. Galvin is 8 years old now, in his absolute physical prime as a jumper; he is also a battle-tested veteran at the sport’s highest level, he loves the course at Cheltenham, and trainer Gordon Elliott seems to have him poised to run huge today. Add it up and we’re headed to the windows: we will bet Galvin to win at 3-1. The bet: Cheltenham, Race 4, $50 to win on 6-Galvin.

Enjoy the race.