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Cheltenham Open Meeting Day One: Graham Cunningham's race-by-race guide

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The autumn skirmishes are over and it's time for the biggest jumps trainers in Britain to show their hands at the biggest game in town. Cheltenham opens its doors for day one of the Open Meeting this Friday and Racing UK analyst Graham Cunningham feels the relentless Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh might not have things all their own way for once.

1.15

No strong views here, but a couple of pointers worth noting. Irish trainer Gordon Elliott has a fine record with his British raiders and would love to win this having landed it as a svelte and youthful rider aboard iris Bleu in 2002.

Wetherby winner Hoopy is plainly on the up as he bids to add to Elliott's impressive record, but last year's winner Hordago needs to sharpen up his act considerably to repeat the feat after losing the plot recently.

1.50

Opposing the Paul Nicholls juggernaut has to be done if the odds are too short, but American Trilogy made a smooth transition to hurdling at Aintree and several of his main rivals have something to prove.

Initially, I was drawn towards Leo's Lucky Star, but David Pipe's gelding has thrived on a sound surface and Thursday's rain looks a worry. Uttoxeter winner Hunters Ploy looks a stayer and may well take them along, but Indian Spring probably needs to arrive very late.

He has masses of ability - and don't be surprised to see him trade short in-running rounding the home turn - but whether he will knuckle down if when it comes to the nitty gritty is another matter altogether.

2.25

Nicholls fans won't desert Ornais, especially as he has a 2-0 lead in clashes with Battlecry, but this looks a suitable stage for revenge. Ornais can resemble a galloping dinosaur with his awkward head carriage and the record reflects that he hasn't shone in a couple of visits to Cheltenham.

By contrast, Battlecry ran a corker here in the SunAlliance Chase and proved it was no fluke with a cracking second to Big Buck's in Grade 2 company at Liverpool. The Hennessy is on his dance card and, given that he gets 7lb from Ornais here, it looks very likely that he will head to Newbury with a win under his belt.

3.00

Enda Bolger rules the roost in cross country races and owner JP McManus loves a punt, so market moves between Garde Champetre and L'Ami could prove highly informative.

However, if course form and recent form count for anything then Garde Champetre is very much the one to be on. He bolted up over this idiosyncratic course at the Festival, showing a level of form well up to the best shown by his famous former stablemate Spot Thedifference, and the way he stayed on in a useful hurdle race on his reappearance suggests he ought to be cherry ripe for this.

3.35

A real brain burner of a handicap and I very much doubt I'll be getting too heavily involved. For the record, it's well worth noting that Irish trainers have won five of the last ten renewals and there are a clutch of dangerous travelling floaters at the foot of the handicap again.

However, Lordsbridge is also well worth a close look. Andy Turnell's gelding went into plenty of notebooks when handled with kid gloves here last month and a little more urgency from the saddle this time will surely help him put up a bold show.

4.05

Razor Royale looks an ideal back-to-lay vehicle as he goes head-to-head with the Nicholls-trained Herecomesthetruth. The latter jumped like a natural to win with plenty to spare at Chepstow, but he earned a penalty in doing so and if Razor Royale is on his game conceding that could be beyond him.

Razor Royale was a smart hurdler and seemed to be really enjoying the switch to fences until he crumpled on landing over the second last on his chasing debut here last month. He's a horse with a very high cruising speed and can find a shade less than expected when push comes to shove.

With that in mind it's probably worth laying him to save the stake in-running at [1.3], but if Razor Royale is as good as I suspect then he ought to be very hard to beat in receipt of 5lb from his main market rival.