17:30 Thursday

Inothewayurthinkin - Kim Muir 

It looks like an average enough renewal of the Kim Muir and INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN could be thrown in off a mark of 145. He has to shoulder top weight in the race but I think he is a fair bit better than that rating and he is unexposed over the trip.

He finished seven lengths behind Gaelic Warrior in a Grade 1 at Limerick at Christmas and that looks solid enough form after his demolition job in the Arkle and Fact To File’s facile success in the Brown Advisory. Derek O’Connor is booked to ride and I’d say he is probably my strongest handicap fancy of the Festival.

14:50 Thursday

Envoi Allen - Ryanair Chase

Henry de Bromhead has been in mighty form this week, winning a Grade 1 on each of the first two days at the meeting. Envoi Allen comes here as the defending champion and he has been kept fresh for the race since going down by a neck to Gerri Colombe at Down Royal in November.

I do like Protektorat here too, but the more I think about the race the more I can see the Dan Skelton horse setting the race up perfectly for a closer like ENVOI ALLEN. The Skeltons were in super form on Wednesday, winning a handicap double but I’m going to side with Envoi Allen as he looks to record his fourth Cheltenham Festival success.

16:10 Thursday

Crebilly - Plate Handicap Chase

I’m sitting on a nice antepost ticket for CREBILLY in the Plate and I still think he could be a lot better than his UK mark of 140. It’s a 50-50 call between the two JP McManus horses in this race for me but I’m siding with Crebilly off the back of his form behind Ginny’s Destiny and the strength of last season’s EBF Final.

That race has worked out very well and I’m hopeful that Crebilly can be a fair bit better than his current rating. Jonjo O’Neill had a winner at Huntingdon on Wednesday and I’m hoping that he has enough in hand to get the better of any Irish lurkers in the field. He ticks plenty of boxes on paper.