'These are the meetings you want to be competing at - to go there with a live chance is even better'

Such is his excitement for a first Cheltenham Festival ride, jockey Jamie Hamilton is already watching replays of previous runnings of the Ultima Handicap Chase to best prepare for guiding joint-favourite Into Overdrive to glory later this month.

Into Overdrive has progressed sharply through the ranks since last March, winning five of his last six starts with the only defeat coming when second to L’Homme Presse in the Betfair Exchange Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle in November.

The Mark Walford-trained eight-year-old beat Sounds Russian when winning the William Hill Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase at Wetherby in December – form since boosted by seventh-placed Zanza winning the Denman Chase – and heads the betting at 8-1 with Nassalam for the first handicap on day one of the festival.