/ Graham Cunningham / 14 November 2009 / Leave a Comment

Cheltenham was no place for the faint hearted on Saturday, with fierce winds and testing going placing the emphasis firmly on stamina and courage. Punters had a fair time of it in the circumstances, but Sunday is another day and Racing UK analyst Graham Cunningham is looking to a progressive young hurdler to continue the trend in the featured Greatwood Hurdle

Stats followers will be well aware that Cheltenham's Open Meeting hasn't been the happiest hunting ground for Paul Nicholls in recent years and punters face a straight choice of whether to be with or against the champion trainer in the first two races on Sunday's card.

At the time of writing Tataniano is trading at [1.65] for the opener at 13:10, while the mighty Master Minded can be backed at a similar price for his reappearance in the Connaught Chase at 13:45.

It would be folly to suggest that either of the pair represent gold plated value at such restrictive odds, but I'm finding it hard to oppose them.

Tataniano jumped beautifully when making some reasonable horses look second rate on his chasing debut, while Master Minded is simply one of the best two mile chasers to look through a bridle in donkey's years.

If you put a gun to my head and told me to pick one or the other then I would probably side with Tataniano, as we know he is fully fit and Master Minded might not have things completely his own way if Well Chief is on his game in receipt of 10lb.

However, there will be plenty of punters heading to Cheltenham looking for a short priced Nicholls double to kick off with - and I suspect they will be proved right.

Now to the Greatwood Hurdle at 14:20 and, to my mind at least, one of the best handicapped horses of the entire weekend.

Harry Tricker is the beast in question and he has a lot going for him.

First, we know he is fully fit and on top of his game.

Second, his trainer Gary Moore knows just what is needed to prime a horse for big two mile handicaps and won this very race last year with Numide.

And third, Harry Tricker showed marked improvement after the weights for this race were published at Sandown last week when powering clear of the bang-in-form Zabeel Palace up the hill.

There isn't much doubt that Harry Tricker is well treated under a penalty. Granted, conditions will be much more demanding this time around, but Harry Tricker has run well in the mud and I think his true price should be more like [4.5] than the current [5.8] and bigger available on Betfair.

The other two horses who catch the eye in the Greatwood are Issaquah and Medermit.

Issaquah was a favourite of mine last year, when she signed off with a luckless defeat at Aintree on national day, and she strikes me as a live longshot under conditions which will suit for her reappearance.

Medermit will also handle conditions, and he ran the race of his life here when pipped in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle last March, but whether he is good enough to defy an official mark of 146 in a hot handicap like this is another question and I rate him a potential place lay at [4.0] or under.

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