Illico De Cotte ensured it wasn't a losing day as he was a 2pt winner on his chase debut for the Skeltons. He jumped very nicely for his first time over fences over rules and his jumps at the last two secured him the win over Elleon who travelled nicely into the race.
Shirocco's Dream was horrendous and given her past record when fresh and being on a dangerous handicap mark, it was a really bad performance I wouldn't be in a hurry to be backing her on the back of that evidence as it didn't look like she was just in need of the run, she appears to be going backwards and very quickly.
Scarface 8/1 Each Way – Cheltenham 2.25 (WilliamHill 1pt EW)
It seems very odd that Brendan Powell has jumped off Triple Trade and is riding Scarface for this race, and it is enough for me to follow him and back the younger Tizzard horse.
You'd like to think that Brendan hasn't been jocked off Triple Trade and he has had the decision between the two and has decided to ride Scarface on his own accord, as he has been on top of Triple Trade for every single victory this horse has had. Though I think Scarface is a good handicapper, it is a surprise that he has opted for this horse over Triple Trade as the latter horse was a solid horse in handicaps like this all of last year and he is a course and distance winner, whereas there are question for Scarface, and that decision by Brendan was enough for me to think, he must know something that a lot of us don't.
Obviously, it is ridiculous to follow something like this, blindly. However, Scarface was progressing nicely at the start of last year over fences, mainly on good ground, which is something he will get today. The drop in trip is the main stumbling block and main question which needs to be answered as this horse's wins have been over slightly further. But, given how well the yard has started this season, and the horse has gone through his races nicely, he should be suited by a strong gallop, the extra bonus of having Brendan on board cemented it for me. There are many horses in this race who are racing off tough handicap marks, and I thought the drop in trip made sense, but it has also made Scarface a tad unexposed as we don't know how the trip is going to go at this level, so I thought he was worth a shot.
I fully understand that this is hardly the most convincing write-up, but when you've got negatives about all of the others in the lineup, for example, Matata prefers soft ground, Nicky Henderson's runners at Kempton were very bad and Arclight will probably need the run etc, I thought it worth chancing one at bigger odds.
Strictlyadancer 6/1 Each Way – Cheltenham 3.35 (1pt EW)
I'm fairly certain that I stuck up Strictlyadancer for this race 12 months ago and he ran well in defeat but got going a bit too late in the race. I am going to give him another chance, as similar to last year, I've been drawn in by his prep run at Chepstow on his seasonal reappearance.
Last year he went through the Chepstow race like a horse who wasn't exactly trying, this year he went through the race like a horse who desperately needed the run, so I think he is arriving to this race this year in better form than last year. I had a runner in the race he ran at Chepstow the other week and he caught my eye in the race for a horse who wasn't fancied in the market, he jumped brilliantly and cruised through the race, before getting tired towards the end. When I saw how well he was going through the race at Chepstow, he pretty much cemented himself in my head for today's race and that's why it was so hard for me to look elsewhere as I do have a bit of history with him already.
This race was won by him back in 2022 off a mark of 110, and he managed to finish 4th/19 off a mark of 121. This year, he will be running off a mark of 112 when you take the 7lbs away that Mr Edward Vaughan takes off the mark of 119. Based on that, he surely arrives with a belting chance.
In December 2020 we sadly 
