IT’S weather watch all over the place today, on both sides of the Irish Sea, and just because Cheltenham went ahead yesterday, it doesn’t mean that it is a certainty to go ahead today.

Hopefully it does, it’s a good card, with some interesting contests set to unfold. A maximum of just five are set to line up in the Unibet International Hurdle, the smallest field this decade, and that could be reduced to four if Denis Hogan’s horse Zaffonien, who ran in the two-mile handicap hurdle yesterday, defects.

Epatante is the correct favourite. The 2020 Champion Hurdle winner, the dual Christmas Hurdle winner, who got to within about two lengths of her stable companion Constitution Hill on the run to the third last flight in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle two weeks ago before he went whoosh. Nicky Henderson’s mare is the highest-rated horse in the race, and she is set to receive weight from all her rivals, including Zaffonien, who is rated 17lb inferior.

She is, of course, a top-class mare, but she faces a few progressive adversaries today. I Like To Move It is a really likeable five-year-old of Nigel Twiston-Davies’. Winner of a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle at Cheltenham’s November meeting last year, he was only just beaten in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury in February off a mark of 138, and he put up a career-best performance last time in winning the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham off a mark of 142. That took his Cheltenham record to three wins from five runs.

Progressive type

Knappers Hill is similarly progressive. Beaten in the EBF Final at Sandown last March off a handicap rating of 135, he hasn’t been beaten since. He has won his last four, including the Grade 2 Elite Hurdle at Wincanton last time. He is a contender.

But at a bigger price than both, First Street is a more attractive betting proposition. Nicky Henderson’s horse was a progressive novice last season, winning three of his first four races over hurdles, before finishing third in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury, the form of which gets stronger and stronger with the passage of time.

He does have almost three lengths to find with I Like To Move It on that run, but he is 3lb better off and, more importantly, he improved on that next time when he finished second behind State Man in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham. He was only beaten just over a length by State Man, giving him 1lb, and State Man is now a dual Grade 1 winner, a Morgiana Hurdle winner, and third favourite for the Champion Hurdle.

You can easily forgive First Street his final run last season in the Top Novice Hurdle at Aintree behind Jonbon, it just wasn’t his running, and he put it well behind him with a fine performance on his debut this season to win the Gerry Feilden Hurdle at Newbury. He always travelled well there, and he stayed on strongly under top weight of 12st to get the better of Grivetana on the run-in, the pair of them clear.

He does go well at Newbury, but we know that he also goes well at Cheltenham, that County Hurdle run was up there with the best of his career. He is only five, and he could be progressive enough to make the step up in grade.

YOU can see why Il Ridoto has been popular in the market for the AIS December Gold Cup. He did well as a novice last season, and he ran a big race to finish fourth in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham’s November meeting. However, despite that good run, the suspicion remains that he will prove to be even better on a flat track. His best performance is probably still the performance that he put up in winning the Jim Joel Handicap Chase at Newbury last November.

By contrast, Stolen Silver’s best form is probably at Cheltenham. His record there over fences reads 241U, the ‘2’ recorded when he was beaten a neck by Editeur Du Gite at the November meeting last year, and the 4 in the Plate at the Festival last March.

Sam Thomas’ horse was back in the field when he unseated at the third last fence in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, but it would have been interesting to see how he would have fared from there. He actually picked up just in front of the winner Ga Law at the obstacle.

We will never know how it would have panned out, and he may not have beaten the winner, but he is a horse who finds plenty for pressure, and he goes well up the hill, as he proved when he came 11 lengths clear of Simply The Betts over today’s course and distance in April.

He was making his seasonal debut in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and, while he does go well fresh, his record on his second run back after a break of 50 days or more reads 213821, and after 100 days or more it reads 2132. This intermediate trip is a good trip for him, he stays it well and, a seven-year-old who has run 10 times over fences, he still has the potential to go beyond the handicap rating of 150 off which he will race today.

Recommended

Stolen Silver, 1.50 Cheltenham, 6/1 (generally) 1 pt win

First Street, 2.25 Cheltenham, 13/2 (generally), 1pt win