Who To Follow At Cheltenham On Friday - 22/10/21

Cheltenham 14:05

Dragon Bones

Harry Skelton

Ian Williams

Age: 6

Weight: 10-13

OR: 130

Days: 170

A very smart event on the card is the three mile Novices' Hurdle and Dragon Bones for Ian Williams seems to hold some of the leading form in the event.

Having one of her final runs as a novice in this event, she has been placed superbly before she steps into tougher company and it looks a perfect starting point.

A smart bumper runner, winning on debut and then finishing a superb fourth in a hot Listed event which saw all three horses ahead of her winning next time out.

She was stepped into hurdles company in March and put up one of her best runs when landing a Listed Novices' Hurdles event in taking style at Doncaster.

The mare unseated at Southwell when a heavy favourite for the event, but has since gone on to land a hat-trick of wins at Hexham, Worcester and Newton Abbot.

She has stepped up close to three miles and revelled in the extra trip and this looks a very winnable event.

The trainer to follow on Friday is the Irishman Gordon Elliott who is not shy of a winner at the track and he brings over some nice types across the two days.

In the first race of the day he fields Off Your Rocco and Mars Harper, who have both been running well in Ireland and have the scope to go close in that event.

In the Novices' Chase he fields Buddy Rich who could sneak into the places but does need to find more, but his best chance of the day comes in the three mile Novices' Hurdle with Calagogo who is the 7/2 fav for the event.

Elliott heads into the meeting in fine form running at a 22% strike rate for the last two weeks landing 10 winners from 46 runners.

Finally, the jockey who could have a good day on Friday is the champion jockey Harry Skelton who teams up with his brother for some nice rides.

His best chance of the afternoon comes in the two mile Novices' Chase with Third Time Lucki making his chase debut in a smart event.

Another nice shout is the six year old Faivoir who is seeking a four timer having won two hurdles event and then last time out won nicely on chase debut.

In the lucky last Skelton sits on the ex John Gosden trained runner John Locke who holds leading form in the race.