Nicky saying Cheltenham isn't the be all and end all for Jonbon after yesterday's heroics on Nick Luck on Sunday this morning after two hard races, but he'd love a Fez win on his CV. JP's love of the horse is well documented, I'm around 60/40 in him running in the Ryanair.

Back to the crossword again ... 1 down: Fantasy World is an example of this (5,2,5).

Can anyone name one single horse other than Heart Wood (and even he still holds a Gold Cup entry!) who is almost certain to run in the Ryanair? It's always a bit up in the air for a lot of the winter, but just over 3 weeks away?!

168 given by the RP. Incredibly consistent horse. The poll is incredibly close between running him at Aintree and the Fez. He's tough, but it gets harder to back up big efforts as they get older. Going to be a late decision I reckon.

This won't be a popular opinion among his backers but I wouldn't be massively surprised if Mighty Park swerved the Fez given his lack of experience. I know he's seen as a top long-term chasing prospect. If there's one owner who can resist temptation and play the waiting game,

The Irish handicapper has I Am Maximus back down to 167 after three runs this season - the mark he finished runner up off in last year's Grand National. Interested to see what tax the UK handicapper puts on him today. It's a high enough mark so you'd be hoping for just a pound

If some of the bookmakers out there want to attract a bit of interest in their prices they could do worse than offer some extra places on some of the non-handicap races. I'm thinking Supreme, Albert Bartlett, and the Gold Cup. All are likely to have big competitive fields and

Good to get so many votes and opinion. The poll is now closed and it's almost bang on 50/50 for where Fact To File runs AND whether Jonbon skips thee Fez for Aintree. The closest polls since the Scottish independence referendum!

Haha. You crack on with those handicaps Chris, don't leave it too late though, you might miss something to help your Fez betting approach, like ordering a wig 😀

Horse 56 on the list of Grand National runners on this day last year, Duffle Coat, was last in as horse #34 on the day. If history repeats itself a mark of 144 could be enough this year, as Amirite is currently 56th. Some are saying Panic Attack needs a bit of luck to get in but

Great recommendation from Denis for some holiday reading. Best racing/betting book I've read for a while. Good stuff Moray Smith.

Good fun. Great to meet podcaster and top man Barry Doyle, who did an admirable job of staying loyal to Boylesports despite clearly being a punter himself - even if he did keep forcing re-shoots by calling me "Steve" 😂 Frustrated stand-up comedian Ross Brierley did a grand job

Despite winning today, I thought Straight John did nothing for the Leader D'Allier form. I've pegged SJ at 118 today, 5lbs below the rating he was given when chasing home Leader D'Allier. That form is looking really weak ... the third that day has pulled since and the 4th

I'm thinking that Leader D'Allier is typical of the sort of horse that is usually the Mullins' third or fourth string for the Supreme and around 25/1 or 33/1. But because he has a poor bunch of novices this year he finds himself as their potential first string. That's still no

A look at the Gold Cup market. It's no secret that we are very likely to see only one of Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File line up as there are much easier pickings available in the Ryanair. Betfair has FTF at 8.0 and GW at 11.0 at the moment, so 21.6% of the market in total. That

We're still waiting for word on Lossiemouth's Cheltenham target. If she runs in the Champion Hurdle, how will the Mares Hurdle market look without her? Obviously there's Wodhooh, and Mullins has said Jade De Grugy could run here if they think they have something else for the