Foxtail Hill out to cash in as several leading contenders miss out

5.30 Cheltenham
Close Brothers Novices' Handicap Chase (Listed) | 2m4f78y | 5yo+ | RUK

The closing novice handicap was given a massive shake-up at the declaration stage, with five of the seven horses who were shorter than 16-1 in the betting either not declared or not making the cut.

Favourite Foxtail Hill and Dan Skelton's Its'afreebee – third in last year's Neptune – remain, with the latter now ridden by stable jockey Harry Skelton after a late knock ruled out his intended mount Value At Risk.

The strongly fancied quartet of Romain De Senam, Squouateur, Brother Tedd and Poker School were among 28 balloted out and, while the Venetia Williams-trained Zamdy Man carries 2lb over the 0-140 limit, there is just a 5lb spread of weights with the cut-off being a mark of 137.

Festival virgins

Keith Dalgleish, who saddles the four-timer-seeking Mixboy, and Stuart Coltherd, whose Captain Redbeard is pursuing a hat-trick, are saddling their first festival runners, while it will be Sam Coltherd's first ride at the track, Sean Flanagan's second and Dave Crosse has his first ride at Cheltenham since the 2014-15 season.

What they say

Elizabeth Doyle, trainer of Last Goodbye
This has been the plan since he won at Down Royal in December. He's not a big lump of a horse so I can only run him four or five times a season but he comes here in really good form and he's fresh. He sees out his races well, which will help around here, and the stiff two and a half miles will suit him. He should run well.

Malcolm Jefferson, trainer of Double W's
There's only 5lb in it and he looks fantastic and is working great. We're very happy with him and if everything goes right he should run a big race.

Keith Dalgleish, trainer of Mixboy
He's done really well. He was impressive at Musselburgh and we've had a good run since. He's got a fantastic attitude, he should like the ground and he's gone up considerably, but he went up so much because of what he achieved there.

Nigel Twiston-Davies, trainer of Foxtail Hill and Templehills
Foxtail Hill was superb at Cheltenham last time. He's up 7lb in a hotter race, but there could be more improvement in him and we're looking forward to it. Templehills was disappointing last time but was very good at Warwick the time before and is sending out the right signals at home.

Nicky Henderson, trainer of Hammersly Lake and Gold Present
Hammersly Lake has run very well here at 2m and loves the extra half-mile. Trip and ground will be perfect for him. Gold Present will be helped a lot by going left handed. He ran a very good race at Kempton last time but was always going out that way.

Stuart Coltherd, trainer of Captain Redbeard
He's won his last two and our last three have all won, so we're hoping we can keep both winning streaks alive. He's well and the ground should suit – and hopefully so will the course. It's the hardest race he's been in but I think there may still be some improvement there.

Tom George, trainer of Bun Doran
The ground was too soft for him at Haydock last time so you can put a line through that. He’s still fairly unexposed and two and a half miles on goodish ground should suit him well.

Henry de Bromhead, trainer of Killiney Court, Deans Road and All Hell Let Loose
All three are coming back from breaks. Killiney Court is two from two for us and is in good form for what looks a very competitive handicap. Deans Road is in good order and we're hoping he might finish in the money, while All Hell Lot Loose has been off since winning easily at Kilbeggan in June. He picked up an injury after that but we're very happy with him now.

Dan Skelton, trainer of Its'afreebee and Two Taffs
We had a disaster with Value At Risk. We schooled him and he bumped the inside of his back leg. If it had been 36 hours earlier it wouldn't have been a problem, it's just awful timing. Harry [Skelton, stable jockey] switches to Its'afreebee and if you ignore his last run – I ran him too quickly – he wouldn't be without a chance. We've put on the cheekpieces and on his Neptune run he'd have a fantastic chance. We've not seen that from him since but he's really come to life in the last ten days.

Two Taffs likes this time of year, he likes decent ground and the trip is good. He also has cheekpieces to sharpen him up so you can make a case for him as well. Hopefully we're sending two with a bit of a chance.

Colin Tizzard, trainer of Sizing Tennessee
When we saw he had a mark of 137 we thought we'd wait for Cheltenham because we didn't want to get any higher or any lower. He's snuck in and we're looking forward to it. It's a very tight handicap and he's got form in the book around Cheltenham. He's got a handicap chance.