THE absence of Benie Des Dieux from Cheltenham has now left the Grade 1 Mares’ Hurdle looking a little threadbare this season and that comes in the year when we have another mares’ race, a Grade 2 chase, added to the meeting.

Concertisa and Roksana look well ahead of the group in the hurdle, and the opposition, to be honest, are not Grade 1 class. Roksana may be rereouted to the Stayers’.