International Festival in Cheltenham

Cheltenham, Friday, 9 December: The International Festival takes place at Cheltenham this weekend. There are seven races on the programme today and among the better tests is the `Class 1` Handicap Chase (5th race/15.25pm/70,000 pounds/5230m).

Venetia Williams saddles last year`s superior 15-length winner Commodore, who is aiming for a title defence with his permanent rider Charlie Deutsch. The ten-year-old last competed in the Grand National and finished far behind. Hardly rated worse is Captain Cattistock (Liam Harrison), who did respectably on his comeback here in a similar fixture, finishing third and only just beaten by the runner-up. Eva`s Oskar (Alan Johns) also pleased on this course on 13 November when second, having probably felt the break on his appearance at Kelso. Nassalam (Jamie Moore) has run twice at Cheltenham, so far without any countable yield. Nevertheless, the five-year-old should not be disregarded because of his class. Switch Hitter (Harry Cobden) runs reliably to the front but, like Undersupervision (Sam Twiston-Davies), has not raced since April. Spiritofthegames (Harry Skelton) already showed good performances here.