| The Darkness could illuminate Cheltenham BY
DAVID THORPE
 Racing afficianados
have always viewed the Sun Alliance Novice Chase at Cheltenham as among
the hardest races to call at the Festival.
The late publishing of the declarations for this year’s renewal
indicates that punters have another tough race to call. Much hype has
surrounded Charlie Egerton’s The Darkness — a serial winner
who has carried all before him.
Connections have sensibly swerved the temptation to have a tilt at the
Gold Cup so The Darkness has a fav-ourite’s chance in a good race.
The best Irish hope at this stage is the Martin Brassil-trained Nickname.
This French import surprised everyone by thrashing a decent field at Leopardstown
over Christmas. That form has stood up well and this horse could do anything.
A price better than seven or eight to one calls for a decent wager on
a horse to be ridden by Conor O’Dwyer.
Henrietta Knight will be hoping to add another page to her festival scrapbook
with Racing Demon. This horse has been impressive from his limited number
of runs but may find the Arkle Chase for which he also holds an entry
to be more within his scope.
Another with an outstanding chance is the Robert Alner-trained The Listener.
Unbeaten in three starts in lower grade races than some of his rivals,
he must improve on his form to feature, but he looks capable of that and
could go close.
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