Remember: trials don't exist when it comes to festival handicaps

Cheltenham's meeting on Saturday is billed as Festival Trials day. The logic is more than fair enough: at the last fixture there before the festival there are bound to be plenty looking for a spin over the course's undulations to test their big-race hopes.

There are plenty of ways to argue that something constitutes a 'good trial'. The only race on Saturday that unambiguously stands up to all of them is the Cleeve Hurdle. Twice in the last five years the winner has done the double by also taking the Stayers' Hurdle. Two more winners have gone on to place on the big day. Going back a little further, Big Buck's won it twice, and Grands Crus took the 2011 running before giving that seemingly indomitable champion a major fright.

The Cleeve stands out because it is on the Stayers' Hurdle main line. Forgive the addition of more terminology to the sport, but it has long been felt that 'the road to Cheltenham' is a little bit of a misnomer. For the major races at least, it is more like the railway network of a major city.