Pertemps Cleeve Hurdle – 3.35 Cheltenham – Saturday 24th January

Gowel Road fended off the smooth-travelling and/or higher rated rivals in last year’s Pertemps Cleeve Hurdle, which is run on Trials Day this Saturday at 3.35 at Cheltenham, and will have one or two different rivals to beat this time around – namely Impose Toi and Theleme – but can definitely lead them a merry dance for a long (if not all the) way again.

Impose Toi has been really well placed and ridden to win his three starts since being upped to 3m this season, but the niggling doubt remains for me about his suitability to a proper staying test in soft ground over 3m, as two of his wins have come on decent ground and the one time he has encountered soft ground at this trip (in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury on penultimate start) it developed into a sprint for home off a crawling gallop.

Gowel Road will drag him to places he’s not been yet, just as he did with the likes of Strong Leader, Crambo, Monmiral and Botox Has 12 months ago. Theleme is another fascinating contender, as he was all the talk of the division 2½ years ago, but quite what we should expect from him after 805 days off the track is anyone’s guess. While again, similar comments apply in relation to his steadfastness for a Gowel Road-inspired slog.

Ma Shantou is probably hoping (presumably in vain) for a sounder surface, while Nurse Susan and Lavida Adiva both have entries in the winnable Mares Grade 3 at Doncaster on Saturday, for the same prize money to the winner as the Cleeve Hurdle.

So, with showers forecast every day this week, and Gowel Road attempting to regain his Cleeve Hurdle crown off the back of an excellent run in the Relkeel Hurdle (just as he did last year), it is absolutely the bet of the weekend to back him as a 2-star ** ante-post selection for WhichBookie at a generally available 14/1 each-way.

Gowel Road has had a slightly up and down campaign this time around, but some of that has been bizarre placement and in-race tactics, but what remains so is that he absolutely loves galloping up that famous hill and will be mighty hard to pass on Saturday.