Ben Jones Cheltenham 2026 day three rides blog: 'I think he's got a very good chance'

• Meetmebythesea - Cheltenham - 2.00 race odds

• Classic King - Cheltenham - 4.40 race odds

2.00 - Cheltenham - Meetmebythesea

Meetmebythesea is my first of two rides at Cheltenham on Thursday, in the two-and-a-half-mile chase. He's had very good preparation for this, winning a couple of chases early on in the season at Wetherby and Ayr, but for him to run in a big handicap at the spring festivals, he had to have another run. Ben [Pauling] was very clever in running him in the Game Spirit at Newbury, because he got a lot of experience from that. He's a horse that goes under the radar at home; isn't very flashy at all, but is an old, tradition, leg-in-each-corner type. He jumps fantastically and goes on any type of ground - I think he's got a very good chance. 

As things stand Meetmebythesea is favourite to win his race, so at this stage, he's my first favourite of the week (although I wouldn't be surprised to see Vanderpoel jump off as favourite on Wednesday). It's nice to go into a race on the favourite - I'd love all of my horses to be in that position, to be honest!

4.40 - Cheltenham - Classic King

I've then got Classic King in the Pertemps for Emma Lavelle. I've only ridden in once but had a good spin off him at Kempton last year. I'm hopeful he can get a nice run around and stay out of trouble... he ran well at Cheltenham the last time he was here, finishing fourth and staying on. If he's in good form - which Emma told me he is - hopefully he can have a nice each-way chance for us.

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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.