Paul Nicholls: The verdict on all my runners on day two of the Cheltenham Festival

Tuesday brought a Champion Hurdle victory for Paul Nicholls as Rock On Ruby stormed to victory. You can get Paul's view of each of his runners across every day of the 2012 Cheltenham Festival exclusively on Betting.Betfair. Read on for the second day verdict...

13:30, Diamond Jubilee National Hunt Chase
Harry The Viking
I respect plenty of the opposition in this race, and I actually think Teaforthree and Allee Garde are the ones to beat. Teaforthree came back to winning form last time and looks the stand-out performer on form on his 1 ½ length second to our Sun Alliance hopeful Join Together over 3m here in November.

But I think we have winning prospects with Harry The Viking, who is sure to attract his fair bit of media attention because Sir Alex Ferguson features among the owners. This winning pointer has always looked the ideal type for this race, and he has won at tough staying tracks such as Chepstow and Towcester. But he undoubtedly showed his best form when beating subsequent winner Ikorodu Road over 3m2f in a Doncaster handicap (off a mark of 129) last time. As I said, he needs to improve to beat the likes of Teaforthree, but 4m is a great leveller and stamina is our forte.

14:40, RSA Chase
Join Together
Proved himself a very smart novice hurdler before disappointing in the Albert Bartlett last season but this winning pointer was always a chaser-in-waiting and he has proven that this season with two smart wins here.

Things didn't go to plan when he fell on his chasing debut but he got back on track with a win over 3m here in November under a brilliant ride from Ruby. At that stage, I'll be honest and admit I was leaning towards the four miler for him. But then he came out and beat Mossley by 12 lengths and that changed my mind.

Granted, stamina won him the day there (and that race was over a furlong further than today's race at 3m1f110yd) but you can't argue with the merit of the form, and he is officially rated 157, as opposed to Grands Crus on 159. So the handicapper has very little between us. Clearly, Grands Crus will take all the beating here - his defeat of Silviniaco Conti and Bobs Worth in Feltham is clearly high class novice form and had connections dreaming of the Gold Cup at one stage - but Join Together has done nothing but delight me recently and we go there with a big each-way shot against him.

Did a great piece of work on Saturday with Ruby watching on from the sidelines and goes really well when fresh.

15:20, Queen Mother Champion Chase
Kauto Stone
A half-brother to Kauto Star, he won a Grade 1 chase over 2m6f in the Auteuil in November 2010, so you could see why my target for him at the start of the season was the Ryanair. And nothing he did when beating a couple of smart horses easily at Down Royal in November dissuaded me. But he is not short on class or speed, so we decided to drop him back to 2m to take on Sizing Europe in the Tingle Creek. He was easily brushed aside by that outstanding winner there but he certainly wasn't disgraced in being beaten eight lengths off levels, and we upped him in trip once again in the Betfair Ascot Chase last time. That didn't go to plan as he raced far too freely before dropping away tamely and finishing tailed off.

Ignore that run and he could just prove to be the main rival to Sizing Europe today and who knows if the favourite has an off day?

It is hard to be bullish or confident after his Ascot effort - and Big Zeb and Finians Rainbow are good horses, too - but his jumping will stand him in good stead around here and a bold showing wouldn't surprise me. He jumps really well on the whole, but I thought he could have fenced a bit better on his last two starts, so we have done a lot of schooling with him at home, and he is quicker and sharper for it.

16:40, Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
Ulck Du Lin
It does make me laugh when I hear talk of handicap plots with this horse. I suppose people are looking back to Sanctuaire's nine length win in the Fred Winter two seasons ago and drawing the same conclusion. But, while Sanctuaire was also an unexposed French recruit, he had already shown me what he could do on the track when beating a certain Grands Crus at Taunton the month before. I honestly don't know if I have a well handicapped horse on my hands off a mark of 130 until I get him on the course. He won a couple of hurdles and a chase in France and has pleased me in his work since coming to us, which included a racecourse gallop. He jumps well, too.
But I can tell you nothing more. What I can say is that if what I hear is right then we all have our work well and truly cut out trying to beat Vendor - and we somehow have to give that horse 1lb here - and Gorgeous Sixty.

In short, let's hope whoever started the gossip is correct and we have 10lb in hand here. Because to win the race I suspect we will need it.

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Paul Nicholls / 14 Mar 2012