Henry de Bromhead and Darragh O'Keeffe are responsible for the favourite for the most valuable race on Friday's Cheltenham card.

This is Cheltenham's opening fixture of the season and there are 18 Irish-trained horses declared for the seven-race card.

The two-mile Squareintheair Handicap Chase is the day's most valuable contest and the 5/2 favourite is Jasko Des Dames, trained by de Bromhead. The youngest horse in the nine-runner field, he finished second at Listowel on his seasonal reappearance.

Matata, trained by Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies, aims to give 11lb to the field on his seasonal debut in the same race.

The seven-year-old has shown a liking for Prestbury Park when he was beaten only a neck by Skelton’s Calico in this race last year and then reversed that form at the November meeting when finishing 30 lengths clear of Calico with Third Time Lucki in between the pair.

He also hit the crossbar at Kelso before cantering home 10 lengths clear of Unexpected Party at Windsor, with the Skelton inmate reopposing.

Twiston-Davies said: “It’s a lovely starting point for him. Obviously he has got to give a lot of weight away but he looks in very good form at home and he’s Mr. Consistent.

“I think we’ve got him as fit as we can get him. He’s a very good horse on his day and he likes the track and trip.

“He’s very consistent and he won a very nice race at Windsor and hopefully it’s a very nice start to the season for him.

“He’s such a hard horse to place with such a lofty rating so we’ll see how he goes on Friday and make some plans from there.”

Calico and Third Time Lucki will again take on Matata.

Gordon Elliott has two of the seven runners in the £40,000 Holland Cooper Novices' Chase over two miles. Jack Kennedy rides King Of Kingsfield while Danny Gilligan is aboard Relieved Of Duties.

King Of Kingsfield has won three chases since July and his biggest dangers on Friday appear to be the Olly Murphy-trained Alnilam and Dan Skelton's Country Mile.

The Twiston-Davies team is sure Un Sens A La Vie can take a step up in grade in his stride when he puts his unbeaten run on the line in the Oddschecker Novices’ Hurdle.

The five-year-old won a point-to-point in Ireland before making his racecourse debut in a bumper at Market Rasen and comfortably saw off his six rivals to come home three and a half lengths clear of the field in the hands of Sam Twiston-Davies.

He returned to the Lincolnshire circuit to tackle hurdles for the first time and was even more impressive, justifying 2/7 favourtism as he made all to canter home seven and a half lengths clear of the field.

Now the Twiston-Davies team are determined to see just what they have with the son of Muhtathir as they tip their toes into Grade 2 company for the first time.

Willy Twiston-Davies said: “He’s a lovely horse. He did it well the first time and hopefully he’ll step forward for it.

“He won very well and it was straightforward for him. We’re very pleased and he’s a very nice horse.

“It’s a step up in class and it’s a logical step for him, there’s not one at the November meeting so hopefully this fits in well into his schedule.

“We’ll see how he goes on on Friday, hopefully he’ll come through that well and we’ll be back hopefully over Christmas.”

Dan Skelton’s Fortune De Mer, third on his reappearance at Uttoxeter, looks to be the main danger, while the red-hot Olly Murphy saddles Sir Galahad in a field of 12.

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