Cheltenham Festival Placepot tips: Paul Kealy's crack at the day three £1m guaranteed pot

With no odds-on favourites, the Placepot at Cheltenham is going to be much harder to get up on day three, so a fairly sizeable perm to small stakes is the suggestion.

There are no guarantees even in the opener (1.30), but I'm going to play it safe with Grey Dawning and Facile Vega, as they are a couple of the form horses who really relish soft conditions.

Farouk D'Alene is the one I like most in the Pertemps (2.10), but high-quality chaser Le Milos has to be of interest off his lower mark on ground he relishes, and Gabbys Cross was an eyecatcher in his qualifier and has been kept fresh since.

The Ryanair (2.50) is as much of a head-scratcher as some of the handicaps, but the two I like most are Protektorat and Fugitif, albeit neither is among those at the head of the market so I'll add Stage Star, who will go close if back to the form of his Paddy Power Gold Cup win.

The Stayers' Hurdle is no easier (3.30), and I'm going to take a chance by leaving out the favourite Teahupoo, who couldn't win a weak running of this last year and is going to be very short. Crambo is the big improver in the field, while Flooring Porter has never been out of the first three at Cheltenham and the old boy Paisley Park has run the likes of Crambo, Noble Yeats (giving him 6lb) and Dashel Drasher (ditto) very close in a consistent season and could make the frame again at the age of 12.

Famous last words and all that, but I genuinely don't think the Plate (4.10) is a very good race this year or all that competitive, so I'm happy to row in with just the two, which are Theatre Man and Shakem Up'Arry.

That just leaves the mares' novice hurdle, and while Gordon Elliott clearly thinks the world of Brighterdaysahead, I'm not quite brave enough to go with a banker, so Fergal O'Brien's unpenalised and very useful bumper winner Dysart Enos goes in too.

Cheltenham Festival day three Placepot perm

1.30
3 Facile Vega
5 Grey Dawning

2.10
1 Farouk D'Alene
6 Le Milos
19 Gabbys Cross

2.50
7 Fugitif
​10 Protektorat
​11 Stage Star

3.30
4 Crambo
6 Flooring Porter
10 Paisley Park

4.10
7 Shakem Up'Arry
14 Theatre Man

4.50
2 Brighterdaysahead
5 Dysart Enos

2x3x3x3x2x2 = 216 lines

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