Cheltenham tips for Friday: Best bets for day four of the 2023 Festival from our experts

4.10 Vaucelet (David Ord)

David Christie holds all the aces in the hunter chase division and can land this prestigious prize with Vaucelet. The eight-year-old looked set to beat Billaway at Punchestown in April only to make a bad mistake at the last and went on to win at Stratford in May.

Three from four in point-to-points he rallied to beat the idling Dorking Cork at Down Royal on Boxing Day and will relish the stiffer stamina test at Cheltenham.

4.50 Jeremys Flame (Ben Linfoot)

Allegorie De Vassy looks the one horse who could blow the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase apart but she does jump to her right and that has to be a concern at short prices. Impervious is respected but she’s very short and Jeremys Flame has similar form claims at a bigger price.

Gavin Cromwell’s mare looks better than ever at the age of nine and there was no fluke about her career-best win over Zambella at Huntingdon last time where she bolted up off a good gallop. She won’t mind the ground and she could be the party pooper in what is being billed as a match.

5.30 Imagine (Phil Turner)

A nice easy twenty-strong field lines up for the Festival's “getting out stakes” and it’s no surprise to see the Willie Mullins-trained Spanish Harlem a warm order at the head of the market, particularly as he’s the mount of star conditional Michael O’Sullivan. However, he’s got very similar form claims to Imagine, who is currently trading at slightly bigger odds and looks the pick of the six Gordon Elliott-trained runners.

Elliott always like to target the race named in honour of his mentor Martin Pipe and Imagine fits the profile of his two previous winners (Champagne Classic in 2017 and Blow by Blow in 2018), being an above-average novice who wouldn’t look out of place in graded company.

Although he’s hit the bar when runner-up on all three starts since a successful hurdling debut, that form looks strong and could well receive a timely boost earlier on Friday afternoon – on the first occasion he finished in front of Albert Bartlett hopeful Three Card Brag, whilst he chased home County Hurdle favourite Hunters Yarn last time. His defeat of Spanish Harlem came between those runs and, reopposing off just 4 lb worse terms here, he gets the vote at odds of around 11/2.

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