Cheltenham 2014

Verdict

Irish trainers have been responsible for six of the last seven winners of this ultra-competitive handicap and more than a quarter of this year's 28-strong field have travelled across the Irish Sea. Willie Mullins, who has produced Thousand Stars and Final Approach to win in the last four years, saddles three with the market and jockey bookings suggesting the lightly-raced ARCTIC FIRE is his best hope and he gets a tentative vote. His last two runs have been in Grade 1 company and he wasn't disgraced. Gordon Elliott's Flaxen Flare always seems to run well in these big handicaps and was an impressive winner of the Fred Winter 12 months ago while Edward Harty's Minella Foru and Thomas Foley's Never Enough Time arrive in form and will be prominent in the betting. Lac Fontana could prove the best of the home team as five-year-olds generally do well in this and, after a couple of near-misses last season, he's won twice over this course and distance this campaign. Lyvius could also figure if sharpened up by a pair of blinkers while Philip Hobbs has been bullish about the chances of betfair hurdle fourth Cheltenian, who is a former Champion Bumper winner and ran in last year's Supreme Novices'. Alaivan was sixth in the betfair while Strongpoint and Jumps Road both arrive off the back of recent wins, though the latter was undoubtedly lucky at Newbury and has a penalty to carry.

3.20Distance : 3m 2f 110y Going : Good

Silviniaco Conti has every chance on his soft-ground form but the lion-hearted BOBS WORTH has shown he can do it on any going and, although he has hardly put up a flashy performance in his life over fences, he keeps doing what is necessary to win. On the down side, he could yet show that last year's desperate win here did leave its mark but his Leopardstown win went some way to reassuring his admirers. Silviniaco Conti was still going well when coming down three out here last year and although it was too far out to draw any conclusions, he is progressive and there was much to like about his King George win at Kempton. He is a big danger, along with the selection's stablemate Triolo d'Alene, who looked good when winning the Hennessy and is said to be thriving, but Last Instalment, so impressive at Leopardstown, has a big question mark about him on this surface. The Giant Bolster, second and fourth in this race in the last two years, has sprinkled his good days rather thinly this winter but he sparkled in headgear here last time and has a decent run in him if the aids work again. [Emily Weber]