Bank on Bristol to come up with Cotswold cash

Twiston-davies-trained grey will relish conditions at Cheltenham

BRISTOL DE MAI is very difficult to oppose in the Betbright Trial Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham.

The Nigel Twiston-davies-trained grey was simply awesome in the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November and is a fairly irresistible force when the mud is flying as it was on Merseyside.

Dreams of clinching a £1 million bonus went up in smoke when he could only finish sixth in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day but, unlike at Haydock, he was unable to get his rivals out of their comfort zone on the less demanding terrain.

Stomach ulcers have also been put forward since as an excuse.

Whether he is over that problem remains to be seen, but he will undoubtedly relish conditions and he has run well at Cheltenham before.

BEER GOGGLES would be a most popular winner of the galliardhomes. com Cleeve Hurdle than.

The seven-year-old clearly took a massive leap forward when winning the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury in November. Although he had things all his own way from the front, he was pulling away again at the finish and can prove that was no fluke.

WAKANDA can end a losing streak that stretches back to 2015 with victory in the Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster.

Sue Smith’s runner has not won since lifting a Listed chase at Ascot in December that year, but that is not to say he has been out of form in the interim.

Indeed the nine-year-old has been batting away with plenty of credit and fallen just short of victory on more than one occasion, most recently when chinned on the line at Wetherby on Boxing Day.

SELECTIONS: CHELTENHAM: 12.40 Apple’s Shakira, 1.15 Full Irish, 1.50 King’s Odyssey, 2.25 Bristol De Mai, 3.00 Mulcahys Hill, 3.35 Beer Goggles, 4.10 Clondaw Castle.

DONCASTER: 12.55 Bandsman, 1.30 Sceau Royal, 2.05 Enniscoffey Oscar, 2.40 Irish Roe, 3.15 WAKANDA (NAP), 3.50 Bigmartre, 4.20 Ritas Bid.

DOUBLE: Wakanda and Bristol De Mai.