Paul Nicholls' guide to his Cheltenham Festival handicap race chances

A Cheltenham Festival contender still to be seen in public in Britain created an unexpected stir in the betting markets on Wednesday, but Paul Nicholls was doing his best here to dampen down suggestions of a plot similar to that landed by Sanctuaire in the Fred Winter Hurdle two years ago. The champion trainer, attending an event at Cheltenham to mark the publication of the weights for the Festival's 11 handicap races, has a relatively streamlined team for those events when compared to the massed batallions of championship challenger Nicky Henderson, but still holds multiple options in every race bar the cross-country chase. Attracting most attention among them was Ulck Du Lin, an entry in the Fred Winter Hurdle handed 10st 5lb on the basis of his French handicap rating. The British Horseracing Board's chief handicapper, Phil Smith, suggested that this would make him the first horse to run in the race without having ever competed in Britain. Seizing the moment, Betfred cut the horse's odds from 20-1 to 14-1 but Nicholls insisted: "He's worked nicely, he had a racecourse gallop last week but to be perfectly honest with you, I thought there's no point running him because if he does win, he'll be 140. I honestly wouldn't have a clue. "He goes really, really well at home and they all like him but when you see him, he's a chaser, a big, strong scopey horse. He could have a good mark, he might not, I wouldn't know. We're going to get him well but no one knows. He's just one of those who could be really interesting." Nicholls may deny that Ulck Du Lin's presence in the line-up is the result of a carefully hatched conspiracy, but his comments did seem to presuppose that the horse would have won had he lined up anywhere of late and the effortless nine-length victory of Sanctuaire remains fresh in the mind. "Sanctuaire had run twice in France and I needed to run him again and qualify him so it's not the same situation," Nicholls continued. "He beat Grands Crus at Taunton and still got 130. That was before Grand Crus had done anything." Hinterland, at one time officially rated the number one juvenile hurdler in training, is likely to carry top weight in the Fred Winter with Baby Mix, Hisaabaat, Ut De Sivola and Ranjaan all considered likely runners in the Triumph. Another former Fred Winter winner, Crack Away Jack, is also set to represent Nicholls in the Byrne Plate. "He ran nicely over hurdles the other day and I think he could be on the way back," said the trainer. "Sonofvic's going to run in the Pertemps Final, that's always been the plan since he jumped moderately at Christmas. He's unbeaten over hurdles, so he could have a chance. Noland was running a really good race at Ascot until he made a mistake two out and he's in good form. I think he'll run in the JLT Specialty Chase. "Toubab is in the Grand Annual. He's got a nice weight if the ground's good. Crictoniq could be my best hope in the novice handicap. He's been kept back for this since he finished second on his debut for me at Plumpton in January." Jonjo O'Neill, also present for the lunch, said he would have "eight to 10" runners in the handicaps, but was reluctant to enter into much discussion on the finer points of his plans. That was, perhaps, a conversation he planned to reserve for the next time he talks to patron JP McManus. Meanwhile, punters hoping for expansion in the numbers of bookmakers prepared to offer betting on the Festival contests on a more advantageous 'non-runner, no bet' basis may have to keep waiting. Although Bet365 made the concession last weekend (while at the same time judiciously trimming the odds on many of the more obvious contenders to be backed on such terms), most of their rivals are likely to wait until the weekend although BetVictor are set to become the second firm to make the offer from Thursday morning. "When you make a concession like that, you have to cut the prices accordingly and we prefer to offer better value for as long as possible," said Coral spokesman David Stevens. "We do recognise that it is popular for some punters, but others prefer to take the bigger prices and the additional risk. In any case, although ante-post betting is an excellent shop window for the Festival, it is far, far outstripped by the money that is taken over the four days of the meeting."