Alan Dudman's Antepost Tips: Go for December Gold Cup glory with Gary Moore's Le Patron

• Cheltenham's December meeting ITV races priced on Sportsbook

• One big outsider at 20/121.00 tipped for Friday's card

• Alan Dudman is hoping Gary Moore takes a chance in the December Gold Cup

Four on ITV on Friday and a different start for Threeunderthrufive

Lights, camera and cue - and we'll need those ITV lights with the gloom of the winter, but two days at the home of racing warms me up despite the savage December grip.

Four on Friday, and we'll dive straight in, and it is the wonderfully named Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Coming Soon Handicap Chase over 3m2f at 13:50 - although retro gaming fans like me will know all too well that Sonic would have had zero chance of staying three miles with his headstrong way of collecting those gold goodies.

Ultima winner Chianti Classico sauntered around to win on his seasonal reappearance at Ascot when beating Highstakesplayer and he's now up to career high of 157 - indeed, with the dearth of staying chasers, we can count that rating like dog years and put him into a different stratosphere. Can he reach the magical 160?

Threeunderthrufive was second in the race 12 months ago, and it will be a common theme for the column this week with Cheltenham regulars very much to the fore, and he's three times the price of the big CC at 10/111.00 and he will have a slightly different route into this race than last year.

He had a prep in the Badger Beer last winter before his runner-up spot in the pre-Sonic version at Cheltenham and perhaps the race last year was stronger?

I was a big fan of this horse (from a non-punting view) as a novice as he was a terrific jumper and quite exciting to boot with his go-forward style. He was 151-rated novice and he's been campaigned quite aggressively in terms of those big staying races with a fourth in the 2023 Scottish Grand National and a run (well beaten) in the Bet365 last spring.

Trainer Paul Nicholls has said in the past he wouldn't want the ground too soft and he opted for Sandown last term rather than the Aintree Grand National. Dubbed 'Mr Consistency' by the former Champion trainer, I think he could be a player off 155 if the going stays on the good to soft side as the angle here is off a break and coming into the race fresher.

Veterans puzzle too difficult to solve

Three 150-rated chasers hold entries for the 14:25 Veterans' Handicap Chase over 2m5f and Joe Tizzard is double-handed at the entry stage with Copperhead and Eldorado Allen. The former probably wants better ground so JT is leaving no stone unturned as Eldorado Allen is certainly more at home in soft.

Those two are 9/25.50 and 6/17.00 and behind Shakem Up'arry and Dashel Drasher while Torn And Frayed has dropped down to a very appealing mark from 131, but his form is tied in with a few others and I am not sure he's quite as good as the 8L thumping of Eldorado Allen at Warwick.

Shan Blue for Dan Skelton has another dart in one of those mature races, but Cheltenham has never been his track and has a poor record here.

In truth I was going around in circles trying to find a bet, and if there isn't one, there isn't one.

Backing Pipe big price outsider worth the risk for Gold

The bucolic country parsons will be strutting their stuff on the Crystal Cup and Cross Country race, and some of these runners are slower than coastal erosion.

It's an easy race to pass, and while it has its place, the perils of backing in it were highlighted by poor old Tommie Beau taking terra incognita at the November meeting. And it's a terra incognita race betting.

The following 15:35 Citipost Handicap Hurdle over 3m is much more like it with the promise of a decent sized field and four places on the Sportsbook and I am going for a "out of the ballpark" selection at 20/121.00 with Gold In The Rivers.

I say ballpark as I rarely get involved tipping with a David Pipe runner. No beef with Pipe at all, but I just cannot get a handle on the form of the yard, but the price on his contender here compensates for my reticence.

Gold In The Rivers was previously trained by Gordon Elliott and showed a liking for heavy ground with his sole Maiden Hurdle victory at Limerick by 8L.

His first run for Pipe came at Ffos Las 33 days ago, in what paradoxically was an odd race to watch. Twelve took part but there was a breakaway quartet that were miles away from the stragglers, and Gold In The Rivers was part of the final four, which quickly became the final two as he was out of picture in the closing stages.

However, it wasn't a disastrous first stable run as it was over an inadequate 2m and he's up to 3m for Friday for the first time and does look as though he's worth a shot at stamina distances.

He's been lowered 3lb to 125 for a handicap debut and that's an early swipe at an horse we know very little about in this sphere, but from watching his Limerick win for Elliott last term, he really did motor after the final two hurdles on very testing ground, and the evidence of that suggests he'll stay.

Gold In The Rivers made the running at Limerick, admittedly in a small field and lesser opponents, but he jumped well and I was taken by his technique down the straight.

It's a risky one, but the 20s with four places looks worth a shot for a handicap debut.

Le Patron a December Gold Cup play

ITV's Saturday coverage at Cheltenham begins with the zinger at 13:50 with the December Gold over 2m5f and hopes are high for decent sized fields with four from Prestbury Park all priced up on the Sportsbook as one last hurrah at the track before Christmas.

With Fugitif as the favourite, just, at 5/16.00 he's slightly shorter than Dan Skelton's Madara 11/26.50 and I wouldn't be wholly surprised if they were to alternate positions.

We know where we are with Fugitif, like many in the field, and is often seen in these big handicaps on the telly. He won it last year from 151 and he runs from 150 for the weekend after his comeback run for the season in the Paddy Power Gold Cup with Madara (fourth) and GA Law (second) also in the race behind Il Ridoto who careered home to win.

Basically it's a rematch of the Paddy Power with the added bonus of the 2023 winner Stage Star penciled in off top weight from a mighty 162 - and that could be pretty tough. He might well add the extra frisson to the race if he takes his chance.

Guard Your Dreams is handicapped for a big effort at 20/121.00 and is interesting each-way from an early stance against the market although he's been beaten twice from marks of 136 at the track this season.

Le Patron has to be of interest under the aegis of Gary Moore, whose stable tour on the Sporting Life had more negatives than positives. Moore senior dubbed the handicap mark (153) crazy, didn't enter in the Paddy Power due to the rating as too high, and wasn't happy making the running as forced to in last season's Grade 1 at Sandown. He also said he'll be hard to place.

You'd think he was talking about a 120 bog standard Monday Fontwell horse!

"Races like the Peterborough Chase then come into it if the ground is right," said the wily Moore, so that's non-starter as that was last weekend, and the caveat emptor here is the fact he was seen two weeks ago winning easily at Newbury. Whether the Sussex yard will want a quick turnaround might depend on Stage Star's presence in keeping the weights down and it's not often you would get the chance to back a top novice in this sort of race at 10/111.00.

My gut feeling is he might not run, but that's all it is, a gut feeling, but I'd love them to chance going for a big pot as 2m4f on soft ground is his station in life and Moore needs to roll the Cheltenham dice.

James Du Berlais for Willie Mullins is an 8/19.00 shot and has won fresh before off a mammoth lay off and while interesting on his Aintree run last term behind Arizona Cardinal, his jumping worries me.

Now read Daryl Carter's latest Cheltenham Festival Focus column with a 33/134.00 tip for the Stayers' Hurdle