The JLT Chase – which is registered as the Melling Chase – takes centre stage on Ladies Day on Friday, with a competitive renewal in prospect in the absence of Nicky Henderson’s Altior.
The feature event on day three is the Stayers Hurdle and the horse with the recent best credentials on time is Paisley Park, who is unbeaten this season and recorded a 161 timefigure when winning the Cleeve Hurdle here in January by twelve lengths.
The faint possibility that Tiger Roll would run in the Gold Cup and not the Glenfarclas Chase (16:10) was never any more than that, and now he has been declared to defend his cross-country crown, the 2018 Grand National winner must be included in any combination bets on day two of the Festival.
Such is Altior’s dominance over the two mile division that the Champion Chase feels perilously close to becoming a second coronation ceremony rather than a bona fide test for the reigning champion chaser, who aims to become the first back-to-back winner of the race since Master Minded.
Paul Nicholls is back. It’s not because he has better horses – though of course that helps – but because the swagger of the man who dominated the Cheltenham Gold Cup – and the Cheltenham Festival as a whole – around the turn of the century has returned.
The racing at Lingfield Park on Saturday is in the news, though not, as might have been expected, due to the quality and competitive nature of the sporting fare, but because of a boycott by trainers in protest about prize money levels.
