Cheltenham Nap...

I am convinced that neither Master Minded nor Big Zeb will win the Champion Chase. Part-hunch, part form study, I might even lay MM for a place.


One of the most exuberant of steeplechasers, he looks to me like a horse with something hurting him; only sheer class getting him home in recent starts. He will be taken on next Wednesday by a good field and once challenged at the business end I predict he will crack.


Big Zeb is top class but 10 years old now; had a hard race last time and his form suggests he needs to be fresh to perform at his best. He may not have fully recovered from his ultimately losing battle with Golden Silver. Expect the defending champion to be put under so much pressure that his once frail jumping might resurface.


I believe that, in reverse order, the first 3 home will be Captain Cee Bee then Somersby all led a merry dance by the Cheltenham specialist, Sizing Europe. The confidence out of the De Bromhead yard is infectious and the trends buffs will be eulogising about the record of Arkle winners in the big one.

It's the course that is the key here and the drying ground will suit also. Whereas the prevailing going will suit Sizing it is likely to do anything but for Master Willie's Golden Silver who also appears to spit out his dummy when he arrives to race on Cheltenham's hallowed though eccentric configuration. He is a lay.

Sizing's winless last 4 starts, stretching back to last year's Arkle, is not the standard precursor to victory in this Championship contest but a return to top form is keenly anticipated and expected.
Rm (Mark)