Fry happy with Harry as he readies strongest team yet

Harry Fry hailed Unowhatimeanharry’s "unbelievable" rise as he prepared to unleash what he described as his strongest-ever team at the Cheltenham Festival.

Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle favourite Unowhatimeanharry bids to make it nine wins on the bounce, including last year's Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle, but the trainer is just as excited about his other market leader, Neon Wolf, in the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle.

With Fry hoping enough rain arrives for the exciting American to take his chance in the RSA Chase, it promises to be the biggest week of his training career. And he could warm up for it by firing Air Horse One at Sandown’s Matchbook Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle on Saturday.

Fry said: “Unowhatimeanharry remains on a winning roll and we're obviously keeping everything crossed it carries on in the Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle. We could not be more happy with him at present and he's had a great season so far.

“To think he was just a run-of-the-mill handicap hurdler with a rating of 123 when he arrived in the yard 20 months or so ago and now he's a Cheltenham Festival winner and has a handicap mark of 167 is near unbelievable.”

With Barry Geraghty on the sidelines, Fry and owner JP McManus are on on the lookout for a substitute rider for Unowhatimanharry, but the trainer said a replacement had not yet been discussed.

Neon Wolf is also entered in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle over two miles, but the longer Neptune, for which he is a top-priced 5-2, remains the preferred option.

Fry said: “He's been a star since coming to us as he won his bumper well and has been impressive in two hurdle races, including a Grade 2 contest at Haydock last month. He remains hugely exciting and we're looking forward to seeing him run again.

Neon Wolf: 'He remains hugely exciting,' says Fry

“There's no secret we've always thought the Neptune would be the right race at the festival for him, but I'm not committing him to any race yet as we want to keep all our options open and see what the ground might be like for the first two days.”

The fragile but talented American could take up his entry in the RSA Chase, with the caveat that the ground is on the soft side. He has won both his chases this season and is currently around the 9-1 mark for the extended three-miler.

American: looks set for Punchestown where he will tackle the Grade 1 Growise Champion Novice ChaseCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Fry said: “He has to have proper soft ground and the word 'soft' would have to be in the going description for him to line up.

"We have to take it one day at a time with him as he struggles with issues with his knees, which means he needs plenty of cut and time between his races.”

Dorset-based Fry notched his 50th success of the season last week, which means he needs only four winners to equal his previous best tally and he will be hoping to get a big week off the runway with Air Horse One, who has won his last two races and is a possible for the Imperial Cup.

Air Horse One (right): unlikely to go to the festival if he runs in the Imperial Cup on SaturdayCredit: Alan Crowhurst

He said: “The plan will be to enter him for the Sandown race and the Randox Health County Hurdle on the final day of the festival, but we'll not be going for the bonus of winning both, or anything clever like that. If he runs on Saturday he's unlikely to go to Cheltenham six days later.”

Cheltenham is set to start on good to soft ground – the current description for the Old course, which hosts the first two days.

Simon Claisse, clerk of the course, said on Sunday: “The outlook remains unsettled with expectations of another 12-15mm of rain in the next seven to ten days. If that is right that would maintain the ground as it is.”

The Met Office website has a page devoted to the festival weather and it does not make good reading for racegoers with temperatures forecast to feel no more than 2-3C.

Sun Bets Stayers' Hurdle entries
RSA Chase entries