Can Cantlow and Auvergnat improve on their festival placings?

3.00 Cheltenham
Glenfarcas Cross Country Handicap Chase | Class 2 | 3m6f | 5yo+ | ITV4

Only the presence of Bless The Wings prevented a JP McManus clean sweep in the festival cross-country, with the Enda Bolger pair of Cantlow and Auvergnat coming home third and fourth behind Cause Of Causes.

Bolger has given both his charges an outing over hurdles, so fitness could be in their favour.

Auvergnat is the only other horse to set to carry more than 11st but benefits from the 5lb claim of Donal McInerney, who won the PP Hogan Memorial at Punchestown aboard the seven-year-old in February.

"The good ground will suit Cantlow, who won over the course and trip last season," said Bolger. "He had a prep run over hurdles last month.

"Auvergnat ran fourth to Cause Of Causes at the festival in March and is a nice up-and-coming cross-country horse. He ran third over hurdles at Galway last month and, while he'd prefer softish ground, I think he'll handle the conditions."

Has Clayeux found the key to cross-country puzzle?

Few French trainers have more love or admiration for Anglo-Irish jumps culture than Emmanuel Clayeux, who achieved a long-held ambition when sending out Urgent De Gregaine to win over this course at the trials meeting in January.

Clayeux's theory was that the Cheltenham cross-country course was more akin to a steeplechase in France than 'le cross', as practised at Craon or Le Lion-d'Angers.

Urgent De Gregaine (right) and Felix de Giles hold off Cantlow at Cheltenham in JanuaryCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Urgent De Gregaine has shown he has a good deal more scope in the jumping department than Clayeux originally thought and arrives here having been runner-up in the Velka Pardubicka.

Clayeux, As if to further test his theory, Clayeux also runs Vicomte Du Seuil, a horse who, like Urgent De Gregaine, has spent most of his career chasing.

"He has a very low weight and we’ll have to see how he adapts to the track," said Clayeux. "He won a small cross-country race last time but he has a similar profile to Urgent De Gregaine in that he has mostly run in steeplechases at home."

If Clayeux's theory is right then Aubusson becomes a fascinating contender, given his class over French hurdles and Nick and Jane Williams' ability at converting their horses to the cross-country sphere.

Need To Know: an Irish secret weapon hiding out in France?

While John Paul Brennan's nine-year-old might be well enough known to Irish observers – he ran over the banks course twice during the most recent Punchestown Festival – Need To Know makes his first trip to Cheltenham, having impressed around the tight turns of Le Lion-d'Angers on the undercard for the Anjou-Loire Challenge in May.

Need To Know on his way to success at Punchestown in AprilCredit: Patrick McCann

"He went to Craon after that win and although he jumped well he just didn't sparkle, so we gave him a nice break," said Brennan.

"He's never been round Cheltenham's banks course but he popped over a few there earlier in the week and he took to France well. He has a nice, light weight and with a nice round of jumping we'd be hoping to be in the mix at the end of it."

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