Rachel Candelora's top tips for day two of the Cheltenham Festival

Day two of the Cheltenham Festival is Queen Mother Champion Chase Day and this year sees Alitor aiming to record back-to-back wins in the race and his fourth victory at the Festival.

My favourite Champion Chase was in 2016 when Sprinter Sacre charged up the hill to regain the trophy to an almighty cheer from the Cheltenham crowd.

The champ himself will be parading before racing on Wednesday and I cannot wait to see him again. I am focusing on bigger-priced horses on day two of the Festival that are solid each-way plays. Best of luck.

There has been one double-figure priced winner of the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle in the last ten years which happened to be in 2017 when Willoughby Court gave trainer Ben Pauling his first Festival winner.

Ben Pauling brings Bright Forecast into this year’s race off three solid races under rules. This son of Arcadio sprung a bit of a surprise on debut over 2m at Newbury before following up under a penalty at Leicester.

Ben Pauling then threw him into the Grade Two Sky Bet Supreme Trial Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle at Haydock, where despite almost blowing the turn as they went past the paddock for the first time, he ran a solid race to finish second behind the Nicky Henderson-trained Mr Fisher – who will us give a form line with the Supreme on the opening day.

This Haydock contest has thrown up the winner of the Ballymore in the past with Peddlers Cross in 2010 and Bright Forecast looks like one who will relish the extra trip – his breeding also suggests that - and the ground could not be soft enough.

Also, after riding him to his two victories, jockey Nico de Boinville is back on board. At around about 28-1, he is a solid each-way play in the opener.

The RSA looks a very competitive race this year with the likes of Delta Work and Santini, however, at the prices, Mister Malarky looks a horse who may be on the improve, which he will have to be, but one thing we know about this son of Malinas is that he will stay all day.

Since switching to chasing this season, Mister Malarky has just blossomed as a racehorse winning three of his four starts over fences including last time out in the Grade Two Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase at Ascot.

Off the back of that win, trainer Colin Tizzard said that Mister Malarky might be “one gear too short” to win an RSA unless the ground came up very soft and slowed everyone else down.

Given the weather forecast, he may have gotten his wish.

Mister Malarky also had an entry in the four-miler and connections opted to give him a go in the RSA instead, and given that he is running here, jockey Robbie Power is able to get back aboard having ridden him to win the Reynoldstown.

An absolute course specialist who loves it around the Cheltenham Cross Country Course having won four of his seven start in the unique contest, including being awarded this very race in 2016.

He kicked off the season with a win over course and distance at the November meeting before having to concede 10lb plus to Fact of the Matter and My Hometown in the Cross Country Handicap Chase in November.

Josies Orders got back to winning ways with a win over the Banks course at Punchestown last time out. Record-setting trainer in this race, Edna Bolger, is looking for his sixth victory and because Tiger Roll is so short in the betting, this former champion is a solid play at around 8-1.

The shortest field ever for the Cheltenham bumper goes to post in the lucky last and, the mare The Glancing Queen is, according to trainer Alan King, the best chance he has of a getting placed at this year’s festival.

This daughter of Jeremy made her rules debut a winning one in a Listed Mares Bumper over today’s course and in distance last November. Next time out, under a penalty, she ran a solid third at Ascot in a Listed Bumper.

She has been freshened since and any ground will suit. For the first time this year, the British and Irish handicappers have given a rating to the bumper horses in the off-chance that they had to ballot any of the horses out due to an oversubscribed race.

Obviously this did not happen, but on these “bumper ratings” The Glancing Queen was given a rating of 124 putting her just 3lbs below Envoi Allen and officially 3lbs higher than Blue Sari, and given her 20-1 price, she is a major each-way play against those at the top of the market.