Stats point one way on key festival angle - but Gordon Elliott bucks the trend

We're into the final few days of the festival countdown and now is as good a time as any to look at all the big names who have fallen by the wayside with injury in the build-up to the meeting.

Buzz, Ferny Hollow, Minella Crooner and . . . that's it.

The weeks leading to Cheltenham are usually treacherous for trainers and ante-post punters alike. There were times when I would wake up every morning and open my laptop with pure trepidation in fear for my ante-post portfolio as, one after another, big names were ruled out.