Three tips for two big weekend handicap chases

The Paddy Power New Year’s Day Handicap Chase at Cheltenham over more than two and a half miles on Sunday is a hugely competitive affair.

There are no less than six horses in this race from my ‘horse tracker’ – horses that have caught my eye for one reason or another recently and that I expect to back in future.

The key to the outcome of the race is the going and, if the weather forecast is correct, the course could have up to 20 millimetres of rain tomorrow. That could easily turn the ground from ‘good’ to ‘soft’, which would be welcome news for some runners and bad news for others.

Deyrann de Carjac is a horse that I am convinced will win a big handicap at some point but he likes ground conditions akin to the M5 motorway, so I am happy to overlook him on the basis that the weather forecast is accurate. Stolen Silver is another runner who would prefer the ground to remain quick.

Shakem Up’Arry, War Lord and Happygolucky will all welcome the arrival of the wet stuff but they aretrading at largely single figure odds so I will, reluctantly in some cases, pass them by too.