3.20 - Cheltenham - Handstands
Handstands has got a tough task ahead of him as there's going to be a big green and yellow wall in front of him here in the shape of Iroko and Jagwar, but I suppose that's just going to be the case in many races this week! They're coming with a hell of a strong team.
But Handstands has done unbelievably well at home; he came out of Windsor in a really good place, like the Handstands of old. And if he runs like he did last year, then I genuinely think he can win this. To me, I think he's back. We're not going to know for sure until Tuesday afternoon, but I believe he's got a set of cheekpieces on which are only going to help him. His jumping was brilliant at Windsor; he was flat out and still managed to give Protektorat a good race... and two out, it even looked like he might have gone and beat him. But we were giving weight away to that tremendous animal, and he's gone on and won again since at Kelso.
But our lad came out of that race bigger and better, and I genuinely think that if he's in the kind of form I feel he's in, he could go and win it. It's hard to talk about best chances at the festival; I'd say Sober Glory is probably my best chance on Tuesday because there's only 14 of us in there. But with Handstands, while I've probably got a better chance on him, there's 24 of us in there so a lot needs to go our way just because of the size of the field alone. He's the one I'm probably looking forward to the most, but I quietly fancy Pic Roc later on in the day too.
4.40 - Cheltenham - No Questions Asked
Between us, myself, Ben [Pauling] and Tom have a horse to follow each year, and for the last three years I've said No Questions Asked. For his bumper year, I called him out, then I did again for his novices' season, and I called him out at the start of this year as well. I love the horse to bits, and I think he's a proper national hunt horse; he jumps well and travels brilliantly.
With this being such a good race, they're going to go off a gallop, I think two-and-a-half miles is going to be better suited to him. He stays two miles really well, but he was definitely outpaced the last day at Windsor, and ended up picking up the pieces and doing his best work in the last half-mile. I think if he settles, and gets into a rhythm, he could definitely pick away a few and run a nice race. He's going to have to settle, and jump brilliantly, if he's going to be competitive. But I think he'll have more chance in this race than he would in, say, the Arkle.
We had to swap things up trip-wise, and so to get the best out of him, I think this was the best race. And novices have a good record in this race - we won it a couple of years ago with Shakem Up'arry, and I think this one is a little bit better than him. I know he's rated higher than Harry was when he won it. Look, if he's in the same order that he's been in for the rest of this year, then we've got a really good chance on a really nice horse.
