Seven Cheltenham Festival duels not to be missed

This Cheltenham Festival will be very different to anything that has gone before but the horses — the real stars of the show — will still be there and will still produce some epic battles. Darren Norris looks at seven cracking duels that shouldn’t be missed

If unbeaten Honeysuckle, left, repeats her virtuoso Leopardstown performance in the Irish Champion Hurdle last month at Cheltenham this week, Epatante, right, and a revitalised Goshen will struggle to deny her.

Shishkin v Allmankind, Sporting Life Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase (Tuesday, 1.55)

A year on from his thrilling Supreme Novices’ Hurdle success, Shishkin returns to Cheltenham as one of the main British hopes for the week. Nicky Henderson’s imposing charge is unbeaten in three starts over fences, swatting away inferior opposition with contemptuous ease.