James Stevens
“Day one there’s a horse running in the Arkle called Shishkin trained by a guy called Nicky Henderson and the feeling is that Shishkin could be the next superstar of horse racing.
“On Wednesday, one of the Irish bankers of the week, Chacun Pour Soi runs in the Champions Chase. He’s an unknown quantity because every time he’s run he’s looked fantastic so we’ll find out how good he is.
“Envoi Allen is probably one of the most popular horses at the moment. He’s unbeaten and runs on Thursday so it’ll be really exciting to see.
“Also on Thursday is Pasty Park whose owner, Andy Gemmell is blind and gave one of the most heart-warming stories when he won two years ago. If he came back it would just be the most amazing story.
“The Gold Cup is always a completely fantastic race. There are so many different stories. You’ve got Al Boum Photo going for a third Gold Cup win which would be an extraordinary achievement.
“Champ, named after AP McCoy, it’s written in the stars!
“You’ve got Froden and Native River, the old horses and the old favourites. Those are the horses that people love and they love horse racing because of these horses that come out year after year. If one of those win, it would be extraordinary.
Best pick
“From a betting perspective, the one horse that I’ve really been keen on at a big price is a horse called SouthField Harvest in a race called the Pertemps. I’ve had this in mind since about December when I saw him run on Boxing Day. His half brother was second in the race and he’s trained by a master trainer called Paul Nicholls. He looks like he’s a bit of a plot job and he’s 16/1 so he’s no bad price.”
