Daily Placepots / Jamie Lynch / 18 March 2011 /

Now then, now then; this is a test, this is a real, real test. Graham Taylor's words are ringing through my ears as we approach today's Cheltenham card, which looks nigh-on impossible from a placepot perspective. There are only 20 places up for grabs, and 133 horses going for them. You do the maths. As far as we're concerned, though, it all comes down to one horse, Bobs Worth, as he's the selected banker, and we desperately need one otherwise things get out of hand in terms of lines and staking. My mate Eddie's out of the equation, his collar felt during the Pertemps Final, so my hopes of salvaging something from the Festival now rest all on Bob.

13:30 - Our crack Irish team (the same team who omitted Sea The Stars from our 2009 Horses To Follow) tell me that the Irish juveniles are no good, so that means we can put a line through 5 in the Triumph straight away. Two starts unbeaten at Cheltenham, including a thrashing of Grandouet, are big positives for Sam Winner, and it's easy to excuse his Chepstow defeat when turned out fairly quickly on bad ground. One place ahead of Sam Winner at Chepstow was Smad Place, who likewise couldn't do himself justice that day, but either side he's looked the real deal, with Triumph Hurdle written all over him.

14:05 - Flat is better than jumps. If you don't believe me, just look at Junior yesterday, who didn't have to reproduce his Royal Ascot form to win the Kim Muir by 24 lengths, and best of the rest in that staying chase was former nursery winner Faasel. If they can do that, just think what Ebor winner Dirar will do in what's as close to a Flat race as there is at the Festival. Next we've got Secret Dancer, who's bred to win a Derby (by Sadler's Wells and out of a Park Hill winner), and let's just say that he looks to have been laid out for this, lower in the weights than when he finished a close-up seventh last year. Ski Sunday's only Flat success came in a 0-65 at Kempton, but, as we've established, that's about the equivalent of a Grade 3 at Cheltenham, and even with just the one eye he made short work of Skint on his hurdling return in January, form that was given a big boost last weekend.

14:40 - Bankers have got a bad press recently, particularly the RBS chief Stephen Hester who decided to trouser £1.2m of our money as a bonus, and the reputation of bankers will be in complete tatters if Bobs Worth doesn't deliver in this; he's got the best form as it is, and stepping up in trip promises to bring even more out of him.

15:20 - You know these horses every bit as well as we at Timeform do, and you don't need me to tell you that it's a wide-open Gold Cup. Rather than shouldering the burden of responsibility on my own, I took a poll of the Timeform experts, as well as Sam Randall, and the result is that Imperial Commander and Denman are the pair we're putting our faith in to get us through.

16:00 - The Foxhunter is invariably fraught with danger, as it's generally a case of dodgy horses ridden by zealous farmers over the same course and distance that the elite horses and jockeys have just competed in the Gold Cup. One exception is Baby Run, last year's winner, and he has every chance of repeating the trick, as he's no worse and the opposition no better. The only other one to consider seriously is On The Fringe, an up-and-comer from Ireland who has the potential to be a lot better than most of these.

16:40 - Sir des Champs is the talking horse and the obvious one, but this sort of handicap will be a shock to the system for one so inexperienced, and for that reason (and the fact he'll be by far the most popular) we have to take him on for placepot purposes. The progressive Shoegazer is the logical next option, while Shalone has an air of unfinished business about him and Astracad has a better chance than his odds suggest, plus both have all-important course form.

Selections: 72 lines

13:30 - 13,15
14:05 - 9,15,25
14:40 - 3
15:20 - 4,5
16:00 - 2,13
16:40 - 3,4,13

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