Ruby Walsh: Seeing value in the ones that chase home the hotpots

Short-price horses take up a huge chunk of any market, so there has to be value to fill the places or chase them home, and you can always find markets without the favourites, too.

FLYING FORM: Sharjah, with Paul Townend at Fairyhouse Winter Festival last December. Ruby Walsh fancies Sharjah to most likely come from off the pace rather than going off with all guns blazing. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

There is no point in dressing this up: the rear end fell out of Cheltenham Tuesday last week when Constitution Hill officially went south. 

It doesn't matter what sport you choose to talk about or how you debate it: every sport can be narrowed down to three or four stars and the rest. Racing has three or four, but he was the one who looked a bit different, and regardless of what price he might have been, Constitution Hill was the box office draw for Day One of the Festival. He is a massive loss to the whole meeting, let alone the opening day, and poor Stateman will get only half the credit he deserves if he wins Tuesday at a meeting where short ones will be plentiful and hard to oppose.