1pt win Might Bite @4/1, 14:10 Cheltenham, Wednesday

Nicky Henderson had two winners yesterday, including the feature race with Buveur D’Air, and he’s got a really strong hand in today’s Grade 1 RSA Chase, run over three miles with the going good-to-soft.

Despite being notably weak in the market, his MIGHT BITE has been favourite for this race all winter since being once fence away from posting arguably the best staying chasing performance of the season at Kempton, but he got into a muddle with his jockey and crashed out at the last with the race at his mercy.

That form just keeps getting boosted with the second-placed horse Royal Vacation, who also takes his chance today, going on to win well and Paul Nicholls’s Frodon, who also took a tumble at the last when certain to take third, has continued his otherwise-excellent season.

Might Bite’s time was set to be significantly quicker than Thistlecrack’s brilliant King George win, so we could be talking about a potential superstar here.

However, all his best form is on flat tracks and his three visits to Cheltenham have not offered much encouragement, while his jumping is obviously a concern – the lesser concern, though, as he jumped brilliantly around Kempton but for the last.

Whilst I’m recognising the general consensus about him being a flat-track bully might have something in it, his form this season is such a marked improvement on anything he achieved before that I’m sure we’re dealing with a massively improved horse; I’m putting a line through those previous visits to Prestbury Park.

Sometimes at Cheltenham the betting public and media can wrongly pigeonhole horses, and you’d be bonkers to not be massively impressed by that Kempton run – besides Alpha Des Obeaux’s second in last year’s World Hurdle, it looks the best form in the race.

Might Bite has proven his liking for good ground, which he’ll get today, and it proved he has a massive engine too.

He seems to have gears that others can’t match, and we’re yet to see him off the bridle this season.

The Irish challenger Acapella Bourgeios looks his only real challenger for the lead if Might Bite wants to dictate the pace like he did at Kempton, so you’d be confident that Nico de Boinville can get him up front and into a rhythm, and doubtful that soft-ground loving horse can keep up with him.

If he jumps well – and Henderson reports his recent schooling to have been very impressive – he could have many of these way out of their comfort zones from a long way out.

Of the others I rate Alpha Des Obeaux and Whisper the main threats, who both have solid course and good-ground form.

1pt win Might Bite @4/1, 14:10 Cheltenham, Wednesday (Betfair Sportsbook)

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