Rest of Cheltenham

The rest of the Cheltenham card looks very difficult with some huge and competitive fields. The opening National Hunt Chase over 4 miles for amateur riders at 14.30 CET looks wide open. Paul Nicholls has the likely favourite here with Harry the Viking (Walter Biddick), unbeaten in 4 starts this season, but we like the McNamara brothers - RP on Dermot Weld´s Daffern Seal and JT on Rebecca Curtis´ Teaforthree.

The following Neptune Novice Hurdle over 2 miles 5 furlongs with the usual strong Irish challenge, but we think the race can be kept at home with Simonsig (Nicky Henderson/ Barry Geraghty) the main hope. Henderson needs just one more winner to become the most successful Festival trainer ever, and we expect him to reach this target today. At the other end of the scale is John Ferguson, who has never even had a runner before at the Festival, but saddles three with chances today, including Cotton Mill (Denis O´Regan) in this race, His best chance is probably New Year´s Eve (Geraghty) in the Champion Bumper at 18.15. With 15 last-time-out winners, 6 of them still unbeaten, this is one of the toughest race of the meeting, but New Year´s Eve has won both his starts in excellent style.

The main supporting feature is the RSA Chase for novices over 3 miles at 15.40. Grand Crus (David Pipe/ Tom Scudamore) is a confident choice her. A top staying hurdler - and twice runner-up to Big Bucks - he is unbeaten in 3 starts since being switched to fences and was for a long time considered a serious contender for the Gold Cup.
Irish hope First Lieutenant (Mouse Morris/ Davy Russell) looks the main threat.