Defi Du Seuil

Wednesday

Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1

The Queen Mother is shaping up to be the race of the meeting with Altior chasing a hat-trick and the impressive Chacun Pour Soi holding rock solid claims of giving Willie Mullins a first win in this race.

However, preference is for the Philip Hobbs-trained Defi Du Seuil who has excelled since he was sent chasing last season. Firstly, this ultra-reliable seven-year-old boasts terrific course form in the shape of his Triumph Hurdle victory and his defeat of Lostintranslation in last season’s JLT Novices’ Chase.

Secondly, Defi Du Seuil hasn’t put a foot wrong in open company this season. A solid comeback success at Cheltenham in November was encouraging and he followed that with a narrow success over Un De Sceaux in the Tingle Creek.

Even better was to come in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot last time where he extended his margin of superiority over Un De Sceaux to almost three lengths.

He will need to be at his very best next Wednesday but he looks tailor made for the task at hand and this race could provide him with a third success on the greatest stage of all.

Relegate

Thursday

Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (Grade 3)

Colm Murphy is no stranger to success at Cheltenham and in Relegate he could have the answer to this year’s Pertemps Final which has been quite a productive race for Irish horses lately following a relatively fallow period.

Relegate will be making just her second start for Murphy after beginning her career with Willie Mullins for whom she sprang a 25/1 surprise in the 2018 Champion Bumper at Cheltenham.

In four starts over hurdles, Relegate has yet to reach such heights although she did catch the eye when fifth in a Leopardstown Grade 1 won by Commander Of Fleet 13 months ago.

She then spent a year off the track before returning in a Pertemps Qualifier at Punchestown last month where she once again caught the eye with a fourth to Mary Frances.

After just four outings over hurdles there is surely more to come from this mare and there is a decent staying prize to be won with her over hurdles.

The demands of the Pertemps Final, which tends to go to a stout stayer, look ideal for Relegate and she can give Murphy his first winner since he returned to the training ranks last year.

Solo

Friday

JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1)

It is nine years since Paul Nicholls produced the former French performer Zarkandar to win the Triumph Hurdle off just one previous run over hurdles in England and he can repeat that feat with Solo this time.

Like Zarkandar this son of Kapgarde made his English debut in the Grade 2 Adonis Hurdle at Kempton and he produced a most impressive display to account for Fujimoto Flyer, a listed winner in France in the autumn, by 13 lengths.

The Triumph will undoubtedly demand a good deal more but this lightly raced gelding should be quite at home against the best of his generation.

Unlike Zarkandar, he actually heads to Cheltenham with more jumping experience as he ran twice at Auteuil earlier in the season which included a highly impressive 15-length victory in November.

His Kempton run was his first run since then so it looks reasonable to assume that he will progress from that outing and his display there bore all the hallmarks of a Grade 1 winner in waiting.

Monkfish

Friday

Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1)

This son of Stowaway has long appealed as a likely type for the exacting stamina test that is the Albert Bartlett and a recent boost to his form reinforced the view that he could give Willie Mullins a second victory in this race following Penhill in 2017.

Monkfish began his career with a good second to Longhouse Poet in a Punchestown bumper last May and again filled the runner-up spot behind Diol Ker in a Fairyhouse maiden hurdle on his comeback in November.

As was the case with many of his stablemates through the winter, Monkfish improved from his reappearance run to win well at Fairyhouse the following month where he had the capable Braeside 17 lengths back in third.

Even better was to come at Thurles in January where he recorded a 20-length triumph in a two-and-three-quarter-mile novice hurdle. The two horses that finished behind him that day haven’t shone since then, but Run Wild Fred, who seemed certain to be picked off by Monkfish when he fell at the second last, did his bit to uphold that form with a recent Grade 3 success at Punchestown.

A strong stayer who has been improving with each run this season, Monkfish looks an ideal type for Alert Bartlett glory.

Staker Wallace

Friday

St James’s Place Foxhunter Challenge Cup Hunters’ Chase

This sparingly campaigned nine-year-old has only run six times over the course of his career but he has shown a considerable level of potential on each of these outings and he is perhaps the most fascinating contender for next Friday’s Foxhunter Chase.

Enda Bolger has sent out the winner of this race on three occasions so there are few around who are better placed to know what is required for this assignment and it is notable that he is opting to let his charge journey to Cheltenham.

For his part, Staker Wallace looked an emerging force in this division when he was third to Foxrcock and On The Fringe in a Leopardstown hunter chase back in February 2017.

He then spent three years out of action before returning with a very pleasing second to Billaway in a good hunter chase at Naas in late January.

Three weeks after Naas he contested a point-to-point at Nenagh where he defeated the capable Lite Duties (a dual winner in points this season) by eight lengths and which signalled that he had come out of his comeback at Naas in fine shape.

J.P. McManus already has a leading Foxhunter contender in Minella Rocco, but next week might just see Staker Wallace deliver on the promise that has been evident from the outset of his career.