Cheltenham tips for Thursday: Best bets for day three of the 2023 Festival from our experts

4.50 Magical Zoe (Andrew Asquith)

Luccia is a short price for this following two easy wins over hurdles so far but she hasn't beaten any world beaters and I'm willing to take her on. A horse who has impressed me quite a lot is Magical Zoe, who won her sole start in bumpers for Barry Fitzgerald, and made an impressive start for this yard over hurdles when winning a maiden hurdle at Wexford.

The bare form was nothing special but it was the style in which she got the job done, easing clear with the minimum of fuss to win with plenty more in hand than the official margin suggested.

Magical Zoe was easy to back but enhanced her reputation further when beating Nikini by a length in a Grade 3 at Downpatrick in November, again ridden with plenty of confidence and doing well to win given how far back she was asked to come from. She has been given time between each of her races, so an absence since isn't a concern to me, and she looks a big price at around 12/1 given the potential she brings.

5.30 Beauport (Matt Brocklebank)

With all due respect to Irish challengers Mr Incredible and Stumptown, I'm really hopeful the Kim Muir trophy will be remaining on home soil this season - and staying locally at that.Nigel Twiston-Davies has decided to aim promising seven-year-old Beauport at this prize from an early stage and it looks highly significant that his two good handicap wins over hurdles came during the month of March (2021 and 2022).

This horse won the often-informative Colin Parker Memorial Chase at Carlisle on his first run over fences in October earlier this season, since when he's gained some vital experience in small-field novice events at Haydock and here at Cheltenham.

His chase mark has dropped to 143, having ended his time over hurdles rated 148 so he's definitely well treated, and he'll love the forecast soft ground too. There's load to like, including his price.

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