Ricci expects Getabird to take flight at Cheltenham Festival

Owner Rich Ricci nominated Getabird as his best chance of a winner at the Cheltenham Festival.

Willie Mullins' six-years-old was a leading fancy for the Champion Bumper 12 months ago before his season was curtailed by injury and this year heads ante-post lists for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle after he dominated his rivals in the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown earlier this month.

Ricci said: "He was very good the last day and I think he surprised everybody by his turn of foot.

"He is one of those horses that is hard to keep right. I'm not sure he does as much at home as the others do, so that last performance on the track, and the way he did it on that ground, was really impressive."

Although he is as short as 9-4 for the Festival curtain-raiser, Ricci is not ruling out the possibility of Getabird stepping back up in trip for the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle the following day.

He added: "I still think Getabird, on better ground, is better over a longer trip.

"That would be some race - Samcro, Next Destination and Getabird in the Ballymore - but on the other hand he shows enough gears for the two miles in the Supreme and I've always felt you need to be a two-and-a-half-mile horse to get the Supreme (trip).

"My nap for the Cheltenham Festival is Getabird as he is our best novice, but I am not sure which race he will run in."

One Ricci-owned horse who could be flying under the Cheltenham radar is Max Dynamite.

The eight-year-old has finished third in the Melbourne Cup and sixth in the Hong Kong Vase on his last two starts, but is being primed for the County Hurdle, in which he finished fourth in 2015.

"I still believe, although I don't know how everybody else feels, that Max Dynamite is well handicapped over hurdles and his target is the County Hurdle ," said Ricci.

"If you're looking for a sleeper from me, he should run well if he gets there in one piece."