Ryanair Chase

14:50 Cheltenham - Ryanair Chase

It’s hard to look past Allaho here as he bids for a repeat victory in this race. He was a runaway winner twelve months ago and Honeysuckle confirmed the good form of the stable when landing the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday. He’s six pounds clear on ratings and there should be more improvement to come from him. There was much debate as to whether Conflated came here or went for the Gold Cup. Michael O’Leary was obviously keen to win the race he sponsors and even though he was a good winner at the Dublin racing festival, from Minella Indo, I think he’ll struggle to beat Allaho on all known form.

Melon pulled up in this last year but has been runner-up four times at the festival and could sneak into the places. Dan Skelton has freshened up Shane Blue with this race in mind for some time and is another worth considering for a place.

written by Peter Keogh