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WITH a dry day forecast for this afternoon after all the recent rain, the ground is likely to be very gluey with the turf having been opened up as well, so today is a card to tread carefully with. Still, I expect the feature event, the Queen Mother Champion Chase (3.30), to go the way of the long time favourite EL FABIOLO.

Many have questioned his jumping at times, and although Edwardstone is sure to set the pace here, I am sure that both Alan King and Tom Cannon will be very wary about going too quickly which will put less emphasis on jumping accuracy. The selection is the class act here and will be better suited to this testing surface more than his arch-rival, according to the marketplace, Jonbon.

If you delve deeper into the form on the rest of the card, there are certainly plenty of heavy ground specialists, none more so than COKO BEACH in the Cross Country Chase at 4.10. At his peak he hasn’t delivered at the top table as much as Delta Work, Minella Indo and Galvin have, but he is still only nine and at the top of his game, whereas his rivals are all on the downgrade and, most important of all, will not be suited by further rain, whereas Coko will absolutely relish these conditions.