'The rocky road to Cheltenham' - why ante-post bettors are this week's losers

The Racing Post's awards will honour the best (and sometimes worst) performances and raise talking points from the last seven days of racing. This week's winners are . . .

Performance of the week

Life Is Good

Knicks Go was recently crowned the world's best racehorse, which begs the question of how good must Life Is Good be after his comprehensive defeat of the Breeders' Cup Classic winner?

The colt never saw another rival in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, backing up his Breeders' Cup victory in spectacular style.

Life Is Good will now surely have more lucrative targets in his sights and the Dubai World Cup could be next on the agenda, although a clash with Mishriff in next month's Saudi Cup is another potential option.

Watch: Life Is Good leaves Knicks Go toiling in brilliant Pegasus World Cup win

Race of the week

Cleeve Hurdle

How could it be anything else? A nightmare at the start turned into the stuff of dreams by the end for Aidan Coleman, Emma Lavelle and Paisley Park after a Cleeve Hurdle thriller.

From what looked an impossible situation, Paisley Park dispelled the common belief that he was past his best by gunning down Champ and winning this race for a third time in front of an adoring Cheltenham crowd.

'That was the proper Paisley Park' - Lavelle in awe at Cleeve Hurdle miracle

Losers of the week

Ante-post bettors

The road to Cheltenham is always a rocky one and Thursday was not a good day for those who spend months curating the perfect ante-post portfolios for the festival (myself included).

Klassical Dream had been a strong favourite for the Stayers' Hurdle for months, but his reputation was severely dented when weakening to fourth in a perhaps ill-judged stop-off in the Galmoy Hurdle, and he was subsequently pushed out to 7-1 in places for the day three showpiece.

Ferny Hollow: out for the seasonCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

But the biggest blow came when news emerged of an injury to Ferny Hollow, which has ruled him out for the season. The exciting novice had become a staple of festival multiples given his strong position at the head of the Arkle market, but those bets now lie in tatters.

Champ's defeat was the cherry on top as he became the latest Stayers' Hurdle favourite to falter when beaten in the Cleeve, with the last seven days serving as a warning for those looking to fill their Cheltenham boots early doors.

Arkle favourite Ferny Hollow ruled out of Cheltenham Festival through injury

Gamble of the week

Longhouse Poet

The shrewdies had this one all figured out long before final declarations were made for the Thyestes Chase on Thursday.

Having been available at 25-1 last week, Longhouse Poet plunged to as short as 5-1 for the €100,000 handicap before eventually landing a popular victory at odds of 9-1 for trainer Martin Brassil.

Longhouse Poet given 33-1 quote for Grand National after Thyestes Chase triumph

Overreaction of the week

Pied Piper

The Triumph Hurdle had a new favourite after Pied Piper swept to a convincing success at Cheltenham on Saturday, but was it earned?

Pied Piper was undoubtedly impressive when scoring by an effortless nine lengths, although questions must be raised about the quality of the horses he was beating, particularly given his chief market rivals Iceo and Interne De Sivola clearly underperformed.

Even Gordon Elliott seemed somewhat surprised and his post-race comments suggest he still sees Fil Dor as the stable number one for the Triumph.

Supreme an option for 'classy' new Triumph Hurdle favourite, says Gordon Elliott

Surprise of the week

Risk And Roll

It's not often you see a 33-1 shot win on the bridle, but that's what happened at Huntingdon on Friday as Risk And Roll bolted home in the Pertemps qualifier.

Jockey Tabitha Worsley was motionless in the saddle as the eight-year-old, making his second start for trainer James Evans having been hunter chasing and point-to-pointing, bounded clear to record as easy a win as there was all week.

Read these next:

Ruby Walsh: 'It's lucky Aidan Coleman was riding because I would have given up'

Expert jury: 'It's going to take a good one to beat him in the Triumph Hurdle'

Cotswold Chase: Chantry House provides JP McManus with 4,000th winner in Cotswold Chase

Catch our new in-depth review of the weekend's racing every Monday in the Racing Post. With big-race analysis from Grand National-winning jockey Leighton Aspell, Chris Cook's take on the weekend action, eyecatchers from the Raceform team, weekly awards and more, it is not to be missed.