Irish maestro Willie Mullins runs a duo of talented two-mile chasers today in the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase (4 p.m.), the highlight of day two of the Cheltenham Festival. 

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However, both Majborough and Il Etait Temps have displayed jumping frailties and so neither appeals at their respective odds. The former will almost certainly win if he jumps as well as he did last time out when landing the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Dublin Chase at Leopardstown, but that is not guaranteed. 

I was tempted to put up L’Eau du Sud for the Dan Skelton/Harry Skelton trainer/jockey combination but odds of no better than 11-2 against two such formidable rivals are on the skinny side. 

Instead, I will put up one of the outsiders in the field, the consistent SAINT SEGAL. He has a lot to find on official ratings but he has won three and been runner-up three times in his six starts this season and odds of 8-1 for a place seem generous given the jumping weaknesses of several of his rivals.  

Take the 40-1 Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) offered by bet365, paying three places. If those at the head of the market jump impeccably, then this bet will probably be lost some distance from the wining post but at the price I can accept that.  

In the opening race on today’s card, the Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Hurdle (1.20 p.m.), the Paul Nicholls-trained No Drama This End looks certain to go off favourite but he has a host of talented horses, many of them Irish trained, to beat. 

Jack Kennedy, Gordon Elliott’s stable jockey, has opted to ride Ballyfad over stablemate Skylight Hussle but the form of Ballyfad’s second to Talk The Talk at Leopardstown last month took a knock in the first race at Cheltenham yesterday. So this is a no-bet race for me. 

I am a great fan of Irish handler’s Gordon Elliott’s Romeo Coolio but sadly I tipped........

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