I hope Rocky will be close enough for me to give him a big 'come on, my son!'

There were no surprises in the Stayers' Hurdle at the last forfeit stage and it still looks an impossible race to try to pick the winner of – let's just hope the weather doesn't make too much of a mess of it. It's not like Cheltenham to have 'heavy' in the description – not since the days of Willie Wumpkins probably – so it's fingers crossed for Lil Rockefeller.

My other horse Doing Fine has safely got into the Kim Muir and everything is right for him, again as long as the ground isn't desperately bad, but we're in the lap of the gods.

I'll go to Cheltenham on Sunday afternoon to walk the track and then on to do a festival preview with the senior handicapper Phil Smith, the same one I've done with for the last few years, at the Fleece in Bretforton.

I'd have to say I've learned more in four evenings with Phil than from everyone else in racing put together, and no doubt I'll learn more on Sunday over a few pints. He'll be greatly missed when he retires.

I'll see for myself what the going is like, but if it's soft on Tuesday and dry for the rest of the week, by Thursday the New course could be good to soft and we'll all run and it'll be a great race.

All I can say for sure is that Lil Rockerfeller is in good form. Neil King [trainer] says he came out of his last piece of work "bucking and squealing", we know he'll come on a bit from his Fontwell run, he's right up there on the ratings and I definitely think he's the same horse as he was last year, when he ran a blinder in second behind Nichols Canyon.

That was on lovely ground, though, and it was easily his best run of the season, whereas his worst two runs have come on heavy. He got away with deep ground in handicaps earlier in his career, but when you're up against the best you need everything in your favour.

What of the opposition? Well, I'd rather Yanworth wasn't in because he's always looked a stayer to me and this race should suit him, but I'm also worried about Bacardys, who was unlucky when a horse fell in front of him last year in the Neptune, and he backed that up with a win at Punchestown.

Penhill won the Albert Bartlett last season and Willie Mullins also has Faugheen and the two mares, who I hope will go somewhere else. That's before we get to The New One on his first try at the trip – who knows what that might do for him? And Unowhatimeanharry is the forgotten horse but I've been hearing good vibes about him.

It's a very strong field, but we finished close up behind Yanworth at Ascot last year, giving him weight, so we don't have to be scared of him, and both he and Bacardys have been running over fences, which is a bit of a question mark.

Yanworth: will be a potent force back over hurdlesCredit: Edward Whitaker

Supasundae is favourite but will he really get the trip on what could be soft ground when we know that Sam Spinner, the young pretender, will make it a real test? And is his jockey a little bit too inexperienced for a test like this?

It's a very hard race but let's go there, do our best and hope all the horses come back safe and sound. That's genuinely the most important thing for me – for 'Rocky', Doing Fine and all the others.

It's so open, but we'll go there with high hopes and I'm just hoping Rocky will be close enough at the top of the hill for me to give him a big "go on, my son!". That's what owning a Cheltenham horse is all about.

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