The quirky yet talented six-year-old made his chasing debut at Taunton on Tuesday and put in a sparkling round of jumping on route to an easy victory that had some bookmakers cutting him into 16-1 for the Arkle.

That price does look fair enough though, as if he lines up, the Nicholls’ charge will have to face the Sprinter Sacre, Al Ferof and Peddlers Cross, all of whom have the potential ability to do great things now and in the future.

It’s also wise to bear in mind that Sanctuaire is far from straightforward and since his win at Cheltenham in the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle at the Festival in 2010, he has been frustrating to follow, including refusing to race at Kempton on his last start over hurdles. Put simply, consistency isn’t one of his strong points and Nicholls has openly admitted he’s a bit of a tool.

But the switch to fences could be the key to success with a horse that looked a real top prospect when landing that aforementioned race at the Festival two years ago.

Nicholls eventually may not decide to run both Al Ferof and Sanctuaire in the Arkle, but at the moment, he isn’t ruling out the prospect.

“I think the will have done him the world of good, both mentally and physically,” Nicholls said.

“Once he jumps off, he’s very obviously a tool. He was a bit guessy at jumping, but that can improve.

“I did put him in the Arkle and he’d be something to follow round Aintree, but we’ll see. I could run him in the Kingmaker at Warwick [later in February] now, or find him another small race.”

Donald McCain has revealed that Peddlers Cross could go straight into the Cheltenham Festival without another run. A few options had been considered in the lead up to the Racing Post Arkle Trophy in March, but now it seems a decision has been made.

Peddlers Cross lost out to Sprinter Sacre at Kempton recently of course and there are many who saw this as a significant moment with regards to Cheltenham preparations, but McCain isn’t panicking.

Speaking about the next month or two for Peddlers Cross, he said: “There has been plenty said about Peddlers Cross after Kempton but I can give you the latest on him and it all seems to be very positive.”

“He seems very happy in himself and he is back on the road and working very nicely. Having weighed up the options, I would think it is highly likely that he will now go straight to the Arkle.”

“here only seemed to be two suitable races that fitted in the timescale available to us and neither would be ideal.”

“I don’t think Warwick would suit him especially well and the other option at Kelso might mean having to run on ground that would be more demanding than I would want so close to the Festival.”

“He’s got enough experience over fences as far as I am concerned and the main thing now is to have him absolutely spot on for the day that matters.”

As with many trainers, we shall see if McCain has made the right decision by the time the Cheltenham Festival is been and gone in March. Some will say Peddlers Cross will be undercooked, others – including McCain – believe the benefits of freshness will be witnessed.

Elsewhere, Andy Stewart has admitted that his horse Big Bucks will eventually get beaten. Ahead of what is expected to be another successful few months, he said: “You never know what will happen, and one day he will get beaten.”

“At Ascot he looked better than ever. There was a moment three out where Ruby (Walsh) was careful, but after that it was a formality.”

The Arkle Challenge Trophy is the second race on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival. The race is run over two miles and twelve fences with a prize purse of around £150,000 up for grabs.

Finians Rainbow is the current favourite to win the race at a best price of 9/2 with Coral. This horse has a high number of career wins and has impressed a lot of people with the manner of these victories. This horse will be tough to beat.

Second favourite in the race is a horse called Ghizao at 5/1 with Boylesports. Ghizao has a high career winning percentage and the recent performances from this horse have been superb. It’s fully expected that Ghizao and Finians Rainbow will be the two horses battling for the line in the later stages of this race.

Captain Chris is a horse that not many people will pay attention to but a number of wins have come over similar distance races. The horse has an experienced jockey and trainer and provides value at 14/1 with Totesport and Boylesports. This could be a good horse to back each way for the second race.

Noble Prince is a horse similar to Captain Chris in stature. The best price for Noble Prince to win is 16s in a couple of places. The problem with this horse has been consistency but there is a real chance a strong run is just around the corner and Cheltenham is the perfect background.

Bellvano is a horse way down in the betting market and pecking order at the moment. A price of 40/1 is offered by the majority of the field. Although the going may be a little bit too strong for this horse to win, there is a good chance the horse can place and produce a good return for an each way bet.

Ghizao is 5/1 in the Cheltenham betting market and will head to the Festival high on confidence after victories on his two latest starts.

Meanwhile, both of these triumphs also came over fellow leading Arkle candidate Captain Chris, who is a 14/1 chance to end a run of three successive runner-up finishes.

What was most significant about these victories is that the first also came at Cheltenham and was over the Arkle distance of two miles.

Another factor in Nicholls’ favour is that although he has not won the race since training Azertyuiop in 2003, trainer David Johnson has enjoyed far greater success.

Johnson has owned four winners of the race thanks to the successes of Or Royal, Champleve, Well Chief and Contraband.

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And he feels that Ghizao’s lack of jumping mistakes and strong reserves of stamina will make him tough to beat.

If Ghizao does disappoint in the Arkle, Nicholls could still taste success as he has entered two other horses among the 34 currently in line to run.

Pepe Simo can be backed at 33/1 and this appears to be a decent each-way price given the way that he ran on in the closing stages of his encouraging defeat to Nadiya De La Vega at Kempton last month.

Robinson Collonges is the other entry at 33/1 and ignoring his disappointing display in the Vote A. P. Gold Cup at Cheltenham in December, he would also have to be considered given his prior form.

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Ruby Walsh overtook Tony McCoy as the most successful current rider at The Festival thanks to an unprecedented seven victories in 2009.

After scoring on Quevega in the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle on day one, Walsh rattled off three successes in as many races on the second day, winning on Mikael D’Haguenet and Cooldine for Willie Mullins and guiding the Paul Nicholls-trained Master Minded to a second successive victory in the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase.

He also triumphed in Thursday’s championship contest, the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, on Big Buck’s and ended a phenomenal week by winning on American Trilogy in the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle and partnering Kauto Star to an historic second victory in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup.

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Walsh has now enjoyed 24 Cheltenham Festival victories and only needs one more success to equal the all-time record set by Pat Taaffe. His nearest rival among the current ranks, Tony McCoy, rode a single winner at The Festival for the third consecutive year last season,

courtesy of a tremendous effort from off the pace on Wichita Lineman in the William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase and has a total of 21 triumphs.

Barry Geraghty moved onto 16 Festival wins after enjoying a successful Cheltenham in his first season as retained rider for Nicky Henderson, recording a first Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle triumph with Punjabi and partnering Zaynar to success in the JCB Triumph Hurdle.

A trio of victories for Geraghty also included a battling success on the Tom Cooper-trained Forpadytheplasterer in The Irish Independent Arkle Challenge Trophy Chase.

With only Walsh and Geraghty registering more than one victory, several new faces made their first visit to the winner’s enclosure at The Festival including Tom O’Brien, nephew of five-time Festival-winning trainer Aidan, and prolific point-to-point rider Jamie Codd.

Paddy Flood, Aidan Coleman, Wayne Hutchinson, Will Biddick and Felix de Giles all broke their Festival ducks alongside Brian O’Connell, who partnered Dunguib to a devastating 10-length success in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

Somersby missed Doncaster and heads straight to the race in the end which means that he will also skip a clash with Long Run in the Kingmaker Novices’ Chase at Warwick on Saturday that has been a cracking Arkle guide when it has beaten the weather. The very fact that Long Run heads for an Arkle trial has got punters latching on to him for this race rather than the RSA Chase even though his trainer says the ‘RSA’ is the more likely option at this stage.

If he blows them away at Warwick, housing the ‘RSA’ favourite in Punchestowns, the huge temptation would be to run in the Arkle. Woolcombe Folly entered the picture with his nose defeat of I’m Delilah in the Grade 2 Lightning Chase on his seasonal and chase debut so may end up being the Nicholls number one after Tataniano’s shock defeat the previous week but that form looks well short of what is required in a year featuring many high-class ex-hurdlers.

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Mad Max had no excuses back in third which appears to have burst his bubble as far as being a fringe Arkle player is concerned and similar comments apply to Bedlam Boy who was beaten by a three-miler over 2m3f on the same card.

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