Sunday's feature race at Cheltenham is the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle and this is an intriguing contest with at least two of the runners looking to underline their claims for the Champion Hurdle back here in March.
They are Ashkazar and Blue Bajan who share top weight with 11st 12lb apiece.
Ashkazar won the Imperial Cup last season before chasing home Crack Away Jack in the Fred Winter at the Festival in March, where he carried the same weight as on Sunday. The winner has already franked the form this season and Ashkazar has lots of scope.
He could be a really smart hurdler in the making but for me this is a big ask, conceding weight all round to older horses.
Blue Bajan is a very decent horse on the Flat and ran OK at Ascot the other day. He has a lot of talent but needs finessing into a race and doesn't want to hit the front too soon.
Aigle D'Or is another horse with a lot of quality. He looked very good when winning over two-and-a-half miles at Cheltenham in January only to disappoint in the Ballymore Properties at the Festival itself.
He has to put that run behind him but his first two outings last term suggested he was a useful performer in the making and Tony McCoy takes the mount.
Further down the weights Rippling Ring represents Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh and it seems there were excuses for his defeat at Aintree on his reappearance.
He has every chance on his fifth behind Captain Cee Bee in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle in March as he is very well weighted with Blue Bajan on that form.
I don't know though. They're trying blinkers here for the first time and that is enough of a warning shot for me.
The one I like is Numide who is ridden by Jamie Moore for his father Gary.
He ran respectably in a Group Three race on the Flat at Newbury last month and although his hurdle form doesn't match up to that, I think there's more to come.
He won his first two starts over timber at Leicester and Folkestone and should go very well in the soft ground on Sunday.
Getting a lot of weight from most of the fancied runners, he gets the vote.
Preview posted at 1310GMT on 15/11/2008.
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