A FEAST of top class racing is on the menu for the Cheltenham NH Festival starting next Tuesday (March 10) — the main food for thought being the weather and the going.

I can't predict the former but I am confident the latter will be generally good to soft. A phalange of Westcountry trainers have been cosseting and toning up their charges (even chargers!) for the four-day event.

Paul Nicholls's Ditcheat yard is the bookies' favourite to gain most winners — not surprising when you consider he is likely to run Kauto Star, Neptune Collonges, and Denman in the Totesport Gold Cup on Friday, the final day of the festival; Master Minded in the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday... I could go on.

David Pipe, son of the famous Martin, is unlikely to leave Cheltenham without a winner or two and is understandably keen to win the race named in honour of his Dad, the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle.

Phillip Hobbs says that he "several each way chances" but, again, it's unlikely he will leave without tasting victory, and I rate his loyal jockey, Richard Johnson as a good each way bet (has been as high as 25-1) to be top jockey at the festival. He boasts a total of 13 winners over the years at the festival, including the unforgettable Rooster Booster.

If you don't fancy him, try Robert Thornton (7-1 generally) whose boss, Alan King, has two or three warm chances of success. Backing a jockey gives you an interest in every race in which he is riding and adds to the excitement. Back to the Gold Cup. I have had a sneaking feeling for nearly a year that Denman would not run in the big race. I thought the victory over stablemate Kauto Star and Neptune Collonges took a huge amount out of him.

Now, my doubts are shared by his part owner, Harry Findlay, who, last year at this time was very bullish (rightly) about his horses's chance.

But, at a Cheltenham Preview evening at Exeter racecourse, he was far from that about Denman's chances of back-to-back victories. The well-known professional gambler believes the race may have taken an irreparable toll.

Denman needed treatment for a heart problem as he was being prepared for a winter campaign and Findlay told a large gathering. "When you watch as much sport as I do, what you see with your eyes is what you see. On the day at Cheltenham, when Denman turned for home he was gone. When Denman jumped the last he was unconscious. I think he was a gone horse well before the last."

If you want some value in the three mile two furlongs race, why not try HM Queen's Barbers Shop — she is likely to be there to see it run.

Other possibles — don't believe the stuff about lots of favourites winning as it rarely happens at the festival — try Bensalem. Planet of Sound has a good chance in the Irish Ind­­ependent Arkle Chall­enge Trophy and I'm still keen on Kasbah Bliss.

Keith Whitford.