Lydia Hislop's Wednesday Cheltenham tips: Play it Coolio

As a rule, it’s proven folly to take on Willie Mullins’ selected first string in Grade Ones with any stable companion, so the sustained interest in Sober is looking to buck that trend.

As an authoritative Queen Alexandra winner last June, not to mention a serial Group performer for Andre Fabre previously, he clearly has quality. But he’ll quickly get lost in a 22-runner field if jumping as he did early on when ultimately winning an insubstantial three-runner Moscow Flyer.

Whether it was because inexperience told when coming out third in a close finish at the DRF, or that he was “like a pregnant mare” in the paddock beforehand according to his trainer, it’s reasonable to infer Paul Townend’s chosen mount KING RASKO GREY can improve again. I’d love to see Galopin Des Champs’ owner Audrey Turley with another young star, too.

Jack Kennedy prefers Ballyfad over Skylight Hustle, but due to the former’s ingrained right-adjusting I see it the other way around. I greatly respect No Drama This End but feel my selection has the greater scope for immediate upside at a bigger price.

Just 26 minutes after our Eve Of The Festival edition of Road To Cheltenham concluded on Monday, news emerged that Final Demand would wear a first-time tongue-tie in this race (and Sortudo would retain his hood in the Turners), resulting in a small fine apiece for Willie Mullins.

More pertinently, this should further change how we should perceive this novice chaser as it suggests his breathing might not be all that it should be. Alternatively, it could also be read as throwing more ideas at the wall, besides changing his training regime, in the hope something sticks. Add to that my concern that he’s not one for a fight. He’s not for me.

Darragh O’Keeffe preferring Koktail Divin over The Big Westerner has given me the heebie-jeebies about the mare’s chances. The yard seems convinced she needs deep ground to be at her best – even though it was good-to-soft when she ran second in last year’s Albert Bartlett – but the step up in trip will certainly play to her strengths. She’s taken to fences with hunger.

Some rain is due overnight and that can only help Mike O’Connor’s mount; I still expect her to run well. Yet Henry de Bromhead’s stable jockey would have had his pick… In my view, he’s chosen a non-stayer – and this race is half a furlong and an extra fence longer than it used to be.

So, whilst I admit I’ve been slow to come around to this – and it’s a 180-degree turn – surely the bet is ROMEO COOLIO on the complex Best Horse Wins Race theory. I see him as a future King George or even Gold Cup contender but learning to jump under pressure against a bang two-miler like Kargese is a powerful weapon. A first-time hood will help Jack Kennedy curb any enthusiasm.

I can see Wendigo running creditably. He would have finished third but for him and The Big Westerner getting in each other’s way when things got tight down the inside two out in the Albert Bartlett and he stumbled afterwards, too. Without that, he would have finished third. This track will suit him far better than Kempton and enable him to reverse the Kauto Star form with Kitzbuhel.

No strong view here but this season has been a non-starter for LUCKY PLACE, who didn’t take to fences in two attempts at the discipline (also scoping dirty at Ascot) and shaped as though capable of better when running respectably in the Grade Two Relkeel Hurdle on New Year’s Day. He didn’t get home in last year’s Stayers’ Hurdle and is worth an each-way shout.

The consensus has been that quality chaser Favori De Champdou will win this, after romping away with the Trials Day version. He’s clearly thriving this season, a switch to this discipline perhaps even having contributed to his success over the conventional fences at Leopardstown over Christmas. He’s 8lb higher for his latest success, though.

At the prices, I prefer another veteran revived by this scene. VANILLIER could have given stable-companion Stumptown a fright had Sean Flanagan not almost taken the wrong course at the third. Supplied with better satnav and following his best effort since over the Banks at Punchestown last time out, I think he’s an over-priced alternative.

The only thing to beat MAJBOROUGH – this column’s ante-post selection – would be a catalogue of errors, admittedly such that he threw in over the course-and-distance in last year’s Arkle. However, cheekpieces and an undeviatingly organising ride from Mark Walsh in the Dublin Chase last time showed what this horse can really do. He’s a cut above.

To underline this point, he still managed to finish in front of L’Eau Du Sud in that Arkle despite chance-ending errors four and two out, plus an untidy one for good measure at the last. Freshness can help the second favourite, but it won’t bring about the Skeltons the stone-plus improvement required.

Hood removal from Il Etait Temps is interesting because that suggests Team Mullins drew the same conclusion as me from his Clarence House defeat – that he simply couldn’t hack the early pace. Going aurally commando for the first time since his juvenile hurdling days is unlikely to be sufficient counteraction needing further and a horse who may be better elsewhere in win terms.

Il Etait Temps would be my best idea of a place banker, however. You might say a heavy fall last time out is hardly the most compelling Festival stepping stone – albeit Lossiemouth negotiated it successfully last year and the late Corbetts Cross (whose fall wasn’t wholly his fault) two years earlier is the last chaser to manage the feat, admittedly not at the highest level.

Indeed, ITV commentator Richard Hoiles ran the numbers and found last-time fallers have outperformed expectations since 2005 (11.43 winners - A/E 1.14).

With a sighter under his belt when fifth in this rough-and-tumble handicap last year, JASKO DES DAMES can take this for the team that won this with Maskada three years ago. That was one hell of a baptism of fire for his handicap debut, however he would have finished closer but for blundering through two out and lunging at the last.

He began this season well with seconds at Listowel and back over the course-and-distance here in October, splitting Calico and Brookie in a competitive race. Admittedly, we must take his DRF prep on trust as there was nothing to see there, but I’m counting on Henry de Bromhead both to peak as usual at this meeting and add to his great record with two-mile chasers.

Last year’s winner Jazzy Matty also merits respect, having been a near-identical hurdles preparation. His trusty cheekpieces are back on and he’s had wind surgery, too.

My interest in these horses begins in the paddock.