Ricci keeps the faith with Djakadam

Rich Ricci believes Djakadam can be a major challenger to Colin Tizzard's team in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday.

For much of the season the betting for the Cheltenham Gold Cup has been dominated by horses from Tizzard's yard, and despite the absence of Thistlecrack the Milborne Port handler still has the services of Native River and Cue Card to call upon.

Despite the market suggesting the Grade One prize will head back to Dorset, Ricci remains optimistic Djakadam can go one place better than his previous two outings in the blue riband.

He said: "I liked Djakadam even before Thistlecrack went out. I think that last year was not the ideal prep, as you will recall. He fell and cut himself quite badly in the BetBright Chase at Cheltenham.

"It was hard to get work into him and he ended up working twice a day and it was kind of a rush.

"He still ran a big race, but to my eye he wasn't as impressive as the year before, when he was closing all the way to line on Coneygree.

"This year there are no complaints. The prep has been brilliant. He is in very good form and he runs great when he is fresh.

"He has won his last two as a fresh horse. I'm as confident as you can be, I suppose. I think it's probably his best chance.

"They (Tizzard horses) have dominated things and they've been incredibly impressive. It's nice not to be in the headlines for once and to be in the background and I'm happy with that.

"He should be coming into his peak. He's certainly continuing to get stronger and I think we saw that in his first run of the season in the John Durkan. He certainly looks the part and we know he gets the trip, so you would have to fancy his chances."

Helping Ricci to achieve much of his success at the Festival has been the presence of stand-out novice hurdlers and while he admits this year is a little different in that respect, he singled out one of his younger brigade he expects to make a big impact.

He said: "We don't have a stand-out novice. I think we have novices that can be competitive. It's not like in previous years when we've had a hot buzzy novice coming into it.

"I'd say Let's Dance would be the one. She is an outstanding mare.

"We won five races at Cheltenham last year, which was amazing. We won't do that this year. If we can nick one or two, that would be great."