Who To Follow On Day Four Of The Cheltenham Festival 2021

The first ever renewal of the Grade Two Mares' Chase sees some smart horses head to post and Elimay for Willie Mullins looks the stand out.

The superb mare for owner JP McManus is the odds on favourite for this race off the back of what she has done in her career to date.

Having being a superb hurdler and also proving she can jump over fences, Mullins sent her over the bigger obstacles for the first time in a year two starts ago and she finished a good second behind stablemate Allaho in a Grade Two event.

Dropped into a lesser race last time out against her own sex saw her get off the mark for the season over fences in comfortable style, seeing off challenger Shattered Love by close to six lengths.

Going back up in trip and handling good ground in the past makes her very tough to beat if on song.

Willie Mullins has had a fairly quiet festival so far with only three winners and we believe that the Friday could see him land his most races on a specific day.

In the County Hurdle he has some live chances with the favourite Ganapathi, but we like the look of the 33/1 outsider Captain Kangaroo who is weighted to go well.

Other big runners for Mullins on day four are Stattler in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle, Elimay in the Mares' Chase and Al Boum Photo looking to make it three wins in a row in the Gold Cup.

Rachel Blackmore has been the story of the 2021 Cheltenham festival this season, landing the Ballymore with Bob Olinger, Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle and Sir Gerhard in the Champion Bumper.

On Friday she has a superb book of rides with Quilixios in the Triumph Hurdle, A Plus Tard in the old Cup and Champagne Gold in the County Hurdle.

Blackmore can do no wrong this week and is currently running at an 18.18% strike rate for the last two weeks having had six winners from 33 rides.