World Hurdle thoughts

Pricewise reveals his ante post picks for the Ladbrokes World Hurdle tomorrow and having agreed with our choices for the Gold Cup and Champion Chase, we thought we’d better publicise our selections before he does.

Certainly Inglis Drever looks a worthy favourite, but he doesn’t represent any value at this stage and so the ones to focus on are Wichita Lineman, and outsiders Ringaroses, The Market Man and Special Envoy.

If Jonjo O’Neill’s horses are in better form at the Festival than they are now then Wichita Lineman should certainly give Inglis Drever plenty to think about. He has a similar running style to the current favourite and all he does his stay. You can, therefore, forget his runs so far this season as they have all been over an inadequate trip.

Special Envoy is unlucky not to have won two big handicap hurdles over the past 12 months having fallen at the last with both races at his mercy. He’s improving fast and could close the gap with his more fancied rivals on better ground.

Ringaroses has been brought along very slowly by Henrietta Knight, but ran a race full of promise on his return to action on Saturday. There is a doubt over his Festival target, but he’d be a fascinating addition to the World Hurdle field. He’d be a lot shorter price if he was a guaranteed starter.

The Market Man ran over fences at the weekend after a long lay off. However, following that race connections highlighted this race as his likely Cheltenham target. Nicky Henderson won the World Hurdle with a similar sort, Bacchanal, in 2000. To underline his quality, The Market Man was beaten only a neck into second by Mighty Man when last seen out over hurdles in 2005.