Somersby is ready to be the new master

Pace will be at a premium on the drying ground at Cheltenham as the fastest chasers from both sides of the Irish Sea step out in the sportingbet.com Queen Mother Champion Chase tomorrow.

Clean jumping will also be vital. There was a time when Big Zeb's method of getting from one side of a fence to the other left his jockeys wishing they had packed a parachute. Indeed he fell heavily in the race two years ago but his jumping has improved with practise and was fast and fluent last March as he claimed the two-mile crown with a flawless display.

Back in fourth that day was Master Minded, the odds-on favourite, who looked a shadow of the horse who had held the title for the previous two years. His trainer, Paul Nicholls, wasted no time in sending Master Minded to his vet Geoff Lane for an operation to improve his breathing.

Nicholls explained: "I'd been wondering about his wind for a while and the surgery seems to have done the trick because he has come right back to form. But I doubt he will ever be as good as the day he ran away with this race as a five-year-old. That was a one-off."

Of more concern for Nicholls is the lack of recent rain which has seen the course officials watering the track extensively in recent days.

To be at his imperious best Master Minded needs plenty of cut underfoot. Unless the weathermen have got their forecasts hopelessly wrong he is unlikely to get it.

If there is to be a turn-up here it is likely to be provided by Somersby, who has been placed at the meeting in each of the last two years. He will be ridden by Robert Thornton, who came so close to success on him in the Arkle last March.

The big worry is the form of his trainer Henrietta Knight, who has had only five winners all season. Yet Somersby could still be the one to put her campaign back on track.

Whatever their fate on the opening day Irish punters will be wading into So Young to pay for the week's expenses in the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle. Another Irish raider, Oscars Well, has been favourite for several weeks but sheer weight of money has forced So Young to the head of the market. The five-year-old has hacked up in both his victories over hurdles and is considered by his trainer, Willie Mullins, to be a star of the future.

Time For Rupert is the one to beat in the RSA Chase though he is short enough at around 2-1 for a horse who has run only twice over fences.