Johnny Ward's best bets for day two of Cheltenham: Nothing Hollow about Ferny

Day two of the Cheltenham Festival looks the toughest of the four for punters, although I often fared better in exams that I was disappointed about afterwards rather than the ones I finished full of confidence!

Altior's defection from the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase is a terrible shame but again advertises the boon that is non-runner, no-bet, as anyone who availed of prices on his two market rivals have no Rule 4 to worry about now.

There was heavy in the going on Tuesday; that should be gone by Wednesday but it remains testing.

I cannot pick a hole in this horse. He has another gear for pressure, is a sensationally good jumper, and looks flawless.

This looks a really solid bet. For a start, he won't run unless Gordon Elliott is happy with him (he wasn't 12 months ago, likely why he ran so poorly here).

His SPs so far are Evens, 8-15, 2-1, 3-1, 8-11, 2-5, 4-9 and 13-8. Now you are getting 12-1 despite pretty much everyone agreeing he did not run his race last time, having otherwise jumped amazingly well. Conditions suit.

Should be favourite. Jumps better than Defi Du Seuil, has beaten him the only time they met, and must surely be a candidate to make the running, or at least be up there. He will be hard to pass, though he’d probably need to be the guts of two lengths up at the last to hold off his main challenger.

This is a Triumph Hurdle horse in the Fred Winter, in my view.

He has had a wind operation since a bloodless win at Ludlow, which is interesting, and he also has a hood added to his tongue tie, which is obviously a bit of a concern, but if he cannot settle with all that headgear and the big field he is in trouble.

I’d imagine Paul Nicholls wants him to avoid Solo; otherwise he would be running in the Triumph. This looks a winnable Fred Winter and Mick Pastor is the class angle in the race off a fair enough mark based on a rampant French performance (rather like Solo) before he joined Nicholls.

As a side-note, the horse that he beat at Auteuil, Nirvana Du Berlais, is now a stallion! He showed smart form after that defeat, including a 14-length Grade 1 win.

His stablemate, Appreciate It, looked pretty deadly at Leopardstown, it must be said, and I find it hard to find fault in him bar his price.

Ferny Hollow is talented, however, and I wonder what price he would be were Appreciate It not here. He has been a slow learner but if he gets cover here he has serious gears for a stable bidding for four wins in nine editions.