Andy Holding & Tom Love's Cheltenham & Football Double

A quality-looking Triumph in which the Irish contingent appear to have an edge on all known form and the pick courtesy of his recent Grade 1 success at Leopardstown is VAUBAN (NAP) (best price 2-1).

A dual winner on soft ground in France, the son of Galiway was strongly fancied to make a successful Irish debut at Punchestown and although he ultimately failed to justify odds of 4-9, he came out of the race with his reputation intact. Staying on well at the Co Kildare venue, he looked as though he was going to engulf Pied Piper when his main market rival lurched to the right and forced him to make a bad mistake and lose valuable momentum. Once back into his stride, he was gaining on the eventual winner hand over fist and that effort had to go down as a perfectly respectable one in terms of moving forward. Such is his high regard, connections felt he had sufficient class and qualities to take on the very best four-year-olds in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival and as it turned out, their beliefs were realised in spades. Always travelling well in what turned out to be a proper test at the trip, Willie Mullins’ gelding showed a smart turn of foot in the closing stages to lower the colours of the hitherto unbeaten Fil D’Or and it came as no surprise to find the overall speed figure came out as well as anticipated. On the evidence of that display, the four-year-old chestnut sets a pretty high standard and even though his old rival has already proven himself over today’s C&D with his Grade 2 win, Vauban rates a strong choice to prove that he is the top dog in this division.

Friday night football comes from Molineux as a rejuvenated Leeds head down to the Black Country in search of more points to ease their lingering relegation concerns.

The Whites looked like they’d thrown away a vital three points at Elland Road last time out, conceding in injury time to Norwich. However, pandemonium ensued when Joe Gelhardt tapped home to secure a crucial win. 

Fans and players will no doubt be in buoyant mood for this one and despite Wolves being very strong at the back this season it’s hard to not see Leeds scoring with the chances they create.

The Old Gold recorded another win at Everton last time out courtesy of a Connor Coady header and that lifted Wolves up to 8th after stuttering in games against Crystal Palace, Arsenal and West Ham. At home they’ve not been exceptional but with the likes of Pedro Neto, Hwang Hee-Cham, Raul Jimenez and Daniel Podence available they’ll fancy their chances of scoring past a Leeds defence that seldom keeps clean sheets.

Both teams to score looks the way in here at around 4/5 but I can’t help but have a small play on the aforementioned Podence to get on the scoresheet. He’s clearly been the bright spark for Wolves of late and is involved in everything. His quality and dynamism on the ball could be the telling factor on Friday night.