Sing hallelujah as the winter jumping stars get going again at Cheltenham

On Unesco's International Day of Tolerance we should have understanding for those who do not share our faith – and pity them for thinking this is just another day.

Adherents know that this is an occasion for joyous celebration, a date in the calendar that was desperately dreamt of through all those bleakly sunny summer Saturdays.

Reassuringly cold, wet weather is back – thankfully not enough to force another abandonment – and so is top-level jump racing. Praise the Lord.

Every weekend from now until the Grand National in April there will be the drama of a big guts-or-glory steeplechase to look forward to, a classy Grade 1 or a fiercely-competitive handicap. Or both.

And ever since it was first run as the Mackeson Gold Cup in 1960, Cheltenham's 2m4f handicap has traditionally marked the start of the holy season for true believers.

This year it is joined on a Saturday by Punchestown’s Morgiana Hurdle card, featuring a former Champion Hurdle winner in Faugheen and perhaps next year’s in Klassical Dream.

Dublin Flyer is among the great horses to have won the first big chase of the autumnCredit: Phil Smith

Cheltenham’s blood-and-thunder showpiece was more thud and blunder in its third running under the BetVictor banner last year as only six got round from 18 starters – half of whom fell, unseated or were brought down.

After the phoney war of the summer jumps campaign, the pace quickens when things get more serious and the unforgiving Cheltenham fences present a stiff test for a young chaser.

It was too stiff a test eight months ago for Slate House, who trailed in last of eight finishers in the Racing Post Arkle Chase here last March.

But Colin Tizzard, the man who has given us Cue Card, Thistlecrack, Native River and the hugely promising Lostintranslation, knows what he's doing when it comes to chasers.

And his confidence that Slate House was the right sort for this challenge looked to be fully justified when today's ante-post favourite bolted up on his return to Cheltenham last month, scoring by 11 lengths over this course and distance.

Siruh Du Lac is also proven here, having won last season's Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate under the resilient Lizzie Kelly, who broke her arm in a fall at Exeter last month yet has recovered in time to resume the partnership.

But whoever of the 19 runners comes out on top in a race whose last nine favourites have all been beaten, it is worth looking beyond the bare result and not getting carried away with the first past the post – the BetVictor Gold Cup may give us the first big winner of the season but it does not always give us the best.

Only one of the last nine has won again that season and defeat here scarcely harmed Frodon or Le Prezien, who were placed in the last two years and each returned five months later to score at the Festival.

Saturday cards and betting

Stars aplenty on the supporting card

Even before Friday's abandoned Grade 2 novice hurdle was added, Cheltenham was far from a one-race Saturday card.

Chasing legends Arkle and Best Mate are among those to have won supporting races at this meeting in the past and four subsequent festival winners ran over the three days here in each of the last two years.

That said, each of those eight horses was beaten at this fixture and talent spotting is not an exact science.

But Thyme Hill looked a smart jumper in the making when landing the Persian War Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow for Philip Hobbs and ought to take some beating in the salvaged Ballymore Novices' Hurdle.

French recruit Mick Pastor was described as "potentially exciting" by Paul Nicholls in his Racing Post stable tour and makes his British debut in the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle, which his new trainer has won four times in the last nine years.

And Grand National hope As De Mee deserves a cheer in the Listed 3m hurdle, which owner Andy Stewart is sponsoring in aid of the Spinal Injuries Association, which has helped his son Paul enormously.

The race also commemorates the owner's four-time Stayers' Hurdle winner Big Buck's, whose enduring popularity underlines the impact that Cheltenham can have.

His star retired in 2014 but Stewart says: "He gets more Christmas cards than the whole of my family put together and is still so well known.

"I remember being with Andrew Lloyd Webber and a boy came over wanting an autograph – we thought he wanted Andrew's but he said 'No, I want Mr Big Buck's!' and handed his pen to me!"

Mullins unleashes superstars on home territory

Willie Mullins is a typically dominant force at Cheltenham in March but Ireland's champion trainer is absent from this weekend's November meeting, opting instead to unleash more of his superstars on home soil at Punchestown.

Mullins takes the wraps off last year's exceptional novice and current ante-post favourite for the Champion Hurdle Klassical Dream in the Unibet Morgiana Hurdle, a race he has kept to himself for the last eight seasons. There is a strong possibility that will become nine, with last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner likely to be tested most by smart stablemates Sharjah and Saldier.

He is also likely to make headlines – whatever the outcome – with the debut over fences of former Champion hero Faugheen at the grand old age of 11. A perennial winner in his younger days, Faugheen will be having his first start outside of Grade 1 company since December 2013.

It is not all about Mullins though, with Davy Russell booked to ride for Gigginstown after scarcely being used by the powerful ownership group since the Galway festival. He partners Eclair De Beaufeu in the Craddockstown Novice Chase, with some super rides scheduled for Sunday at the same track.

It's that man again – Frankie jumps to it at Lingfield

Frankie Dettori seems to have made more headlines than Brexit this year – he couldn't steal the limelight on this most jumping of days, could he?

Well, the man who has ridden a remarkable 19 Group 1 winners in 2019 will attract plenty of attention on his first mounts since a Melbourne Cup near-miss that left him reflecting on what might have been. And an eight-day ban.

He is taking the scenic route to Japan and Hong Kong, where he will be in action in the coming weeks, as he is calling in on Lingfield on Saturday.

Dettori rides in each of the three Listed races on the card and has every chance of winning the Betway Churchill Stakes on old ally Lord North, who has scored in this company since the pair teamed up to land the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket in September.

Today on ITV Racing: ARMCHAIR GUIDE

1.50 Cheltenham
BetVictor Smartcards Handicap Chase (Grade 3)
3m3½f
Heavy-ground specialist Ramses De Teillee, runner-up in a muddy Welsh Grand National last December, warmed up for this return to fences with a win over hurdles here last month.

2.25 Cheltenham
BetVictor Gold Cup Handicap Chase (Grade 3)
2m4f
Colin Tizzard aims to win this for the first time with Slate House, while Nigel Twiston-Davies runs Count Meribel and 2017 winner Splash Of Ginge in a race he has landed on four occasions.

Betway Churchill Stakes (Listed)
1m2f
Frankie Dettori and John Gosden have every chance of landing yet another win in their memorable season with Cambridgeshire and James Seymour Stakes winner Lord North.

3.00 Cheltenham
Spinal Injuries Association Big Buck's Handicap Hurdle (Listed)
3m
Progressive stayer Tobefair was beaten just a neck in the Pertemps Hurdle Final at Cheltenham last March and has won twice over 3m here since.

Betway Golden Rose Stakes (Listed)
6f
Money-spinning sprinter Gifted Master attempts to repeat his 2017 victory in a contest he also finished fifth in last year.

3.30 Cheltenham
BetVictor Intermediate Handicap Hurdle
2m5f
Fakenham winner Falco Blitz, Nicky Henderson's only runner of the day, takes on hat-trick seekers Jatiluwih andLegends Gold.

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