Clues on offer for the festival in March at Cheltenham on Friday

Racegoers at Cheltenham a year ago would have seen two subsequent festival winners among the runners, plus the future Ladbrokes Trophy hero on an afternoon when plenty of pointers can be picked up.

Summerville Boy, who finished third in Friday’s opener, and Tiger Roll, who was fifth in the cross-country contest, went on to glory at the big meeting in March in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and cross-country race respectively, while Sizing Tennessee landed the novice chase and earlier this month took the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury.

What’s more, Ms Parfois, who was narrowly beaten in this year’s National Hunt Chase, also featured on this card in 2017, winning the mares’ handicap chase.

Of Friday’s assembled cast, the novice hurdle and novice chase contain a number of promising types such as Angels Breath, Elixir De Nutz, Lil Rockerfeller and Ibis Du Rheu, while although Tiger Roll is a notable absentee from the cross-country race, Josie’s Orders will inevitably have the festival as a prime spring target. He did the double of Friday’s race and the festival cross-country event three seasons ago, albeit he was awarded the latter upon the subsequent disqualification of Any Currency.

The handicaps, too – as they have done over the past decade – will contain plenty of horses for whom mid-March is the main aim of their campaign.

In all, no fewer than 15 horses to run on this card over the last ten years went on to win at the festival the same season.

Interestingly, that is more than the figure for Saturday’s higher-profile card, even including a restaged Tingle Creek.

Cluedo anyone?

FERTILE FESTIVAL GROUND

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