Dave Nevison's Cheltenham tips: Saturday bets on Trials Day

Barlovento did me a favour when scoring at 4-1 at Kempton over Christmas, and I believe he can take one step further towards a good run at the Cheltenham Festival in this contest. 

Olly Murphy’s charge won well enough there, and would have been even more impressive had he not made quite a serious error at the last, and the handicapper has only been able to raise him 4lb for that decisive success. 

That was only Barlovento’s second run over fences, and it is likely he has further improvement to come in this sphere, especially over this slightly longer trip, and stiffer track. 

A rating of 125 still looks manageable and although this is a seriously competitive event, he looks capable of winning it. 

Prairie Wolf is not the most sexy runner in this contest, but he is in good form, and may be better weighted than some others in this strong field. 

The Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith-trained runners have been going well for the past couple of months, and Prairie Wolf won a decent small-field event at Aintree last time out. 

He had previously run well at Newbury, and he definitely looks to have improved following a wind op during the summer.

He hasn’t won at Cheltenham, but ran well in the Timeform Novices' Handicap Chase two years ago, and seems a consistent, and possibly much-improved, chaser. He looks a good each-way bet.

I rarely look at, never mind bet in, Cross Country races, and my general feeling is that thy are populated by contenders who aren't as good as they once were. However, having watched the run of J’Arrive De L’Est over this course and distance last time out, I thought this seven-year-old was going to be a major force in these events. 

He was strongly supported, and sent off the 7-4 favourite, at Cheltenham last time, and would have gone a lot closer to scoring had he not made a serious mistake just as things were hotting up. 

He has been raised 3lb for that effort, but is still 6lb better off with the winner, Final Call, who he faces again here. 

That gives him every chance of getting his revenge, and even though he will be favourite, most of the contenders cannot be seriously fancied. I think an error-free round from J’Arrive De L’Est will be enough to score. 

This ex-French runner took a while to acclimatise with Christian Williams, but now looks as though he is the type of staying handicap chaser his yard specialises in. 

With Jack Tudor on board, the combo did me a massive favour to score narrowly at 10-1 last time out, and with the winning margin only being a neck, Deep Cave has only been raised 2lb. 

I believe it is likely that a similar scenario could unfold in this contest where he can be delivered late off a strongly-contested pace, and a flat, left-handed track clearly suits him. 

Apart from a welter weight, he has plenty going for him.