All set for Cheltenham bally-hoo

BALLYALTON has a smashing chance in the BetVictor Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

Trainer Ian Williams is already in good spirits after saddling London Prize and Saunter to big-race victories last weekend.

And now the wise Worcestershire handler has been presented with a neat opportunity in which to maintain the feel-good factor at his Alvechurch stables.

This race is always a fearfully difficult handicap from a punting perspective, but Ballyalton ticks an awful lot of boxes and offers logical value in a wide-open renewal.

His trainer’s hot run of form is obviously reassuring, but the 10-year-old also enjoys it at Cheltenham, having won twice in six visits to the track.

He also got to within four and a half lengths of Faugheen in the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle at the 2014 Festival - after which he spent 20 months on the sidelines.

But it was his performance at Cheltenham in March 2016 that perhaps deserves the greatest scrutiny with this race in mind.

The way he kept going to win a twoand-a-half-mile Listed handicap chase for novices was lovely to see and served clear notice that he was an animal going places in a hurry, even in spite of his advancing years.

Williams is a little concerned Ballyalton, who has admittedly had a stopstart career, might lack the experience of some of the more chiselled campaigners in the field.

That is true from one perspective as he has only raced six times over fences.