Garden heads Ryanair possibles
It is still unclear whether Nicky Richards’ charge will turn up here or in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, but ever since his romp in the Ascot Chase recently he has been at the head of the betting for the two-mile-five-furlong contest.
Racing Demon and Our Vic would appear to be his main opponents, with both likely to be re-routed from the Gold Cup.
My Way De Solzen stands his ground, but Alan King has repeatedly stated he is likely to run in the Arkle if soft ground prevails.
Paul Nolan’s Grade One winner Kill Devil Hill is an interesting contender, along with Carl Llewellyn’s Too Forward, an impressive winner at the course in January.
JP McManus has the choice of Foreman and Fota Island, while Forget The Past also has an entry despite the Gold Cup being his apparent objective after his fine third place last year.
Thisthatandtother, winner of the 2005 renewal, could go again for Paul Nicholls, with the Champion trainer also having leading fancy Taranis in the race.
Since his defeat in the Letheby & Christopher Chase at Cheltenham, connections of Our Vic have revised their Festival plan.
“We haven’t made a final decision yet as it looks a though the Ryanair could be tougher than the Gold Cup!” said owner David Johnson.
“Timmy Murphy thinks the Ryanair would be better for him, though. Three and a quarter miles on a flat track is fine for him, but at Cheltenham with soft ground he may struggle.
“At this stage the Ryanair is probably the favourite, but we haven’t definitely made up our minds.
“He has been a bit of an enigma in the past, but he has only run twice this year and he won the Charlie Hall at Wetherby very impressively and he finished second to Exotic Dancer at Cheltenham when giving him weight.
“Many people think he (Exotic Dancer) could be a Gold Cup winner this year so that wasn’t too bad and when he hit the second-last he literally stopped, but still ran on up the hill,” he told At The Races.
“He’s the sort of horse you would like to back in-running because once he has jumped the first few fences and got into a rhythm you usually know how he is going to run.”
