FERDY MURPHY has his sights firmly fixed on a famous Cheltenham double via Joes Edge (2.00) and Your A Gassman (4.40) on day three of the Festival.

Impatient backers have no time at all to wait for Joes Edge, who turns out in the opening Jewson Novices' Handicap, one of the new races at the meeting arranged as a result of extending the fixture from three days to four.

"He's one of our best chances, his form against the likes of Baron Windrush and Lacdoudal doesn't look at all bad, plus he has a good racing weight," said Ferdy.

The Wensleydale-trained eight-year-old proved his ability to handle the mighty Prestbury Park fences when runner-up over course and distance in January, a tremendous prep race which puts him right in the picture for this afternoon's £80,000 event.

It's only fair to point out that Your A Gassman has never travelled much beyond three miles, let alone the marathon four-miles-and-one-furlong distance of the National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup for Amateur Riders.

An accurate crystal ball would be handy to predict whether or not he has the requisite amount of stamina to stay the lung-busting trip, though his shrewd trainer is of the opinion Your A Gassman will be up for the task.

"He made up 20 lengths in the final four furlongs of the three-mile Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster last time out," said Murphy, an eagle-eyed observation certainly supporting the theory that the gelding could conceivably still galloping come the mountainous rise up to Prestbury Park's winning post.

With the reigning champion, Iris's Gift, out of the frame for the World Hurdle, Baracouda's task has been made a good deal easier.

The French horse won the prestigious event under its former guise as the Stayers Hurdle in 2002 plus 2003 and, having come out all guns blazing with two wins from two starts this term, Baracouda (3.15) is without any shadow of a doubt the one the others have to beat.

In the preceding Mildmay of Flete Handicap Chase, Simply Gifted (4.00) would be a welcome winner for Jonjo O'Neill following a devastating virus which brought his stable to its knees throughout January and February.

With 24 going to post, the only sensible approach is to have an each-way bet on Simply Gifted, who, after a lengthy lay-off, defied odds of 50-1 to finish fourth to Supreme Prince in the Vodaphone Gold Cup at Newbury 12 days ago.

Admittedly it's not always easy to judge, but it did appear as if Jonjo's representative was carrying a little bit more weight than usual on that occasion.

Given that premise, O'Neill's ten-year-old is sure to strip a far fitter individual for today's re-match with Supreme Prince, who is lumbered with an extra 6lb for his latest success, a penalty which might easily allow Simply Gifted to gain sweet revenge.

Nicky Richards' Broken Knights (5.20) has scraped in at the foot of the weights for the fiercely-competitive closing Pertemps Final.

The son of Broken Hearted, penalised 4lb for last Saturday's success at Kelso, sneaks in for the £60,000 contest with a measly 10st on his back. This is bound to give Broken Knights a big chance, especially as he steps up to three miles for the first time, a distance over which he's totally unexposed and therefore open to heaps of improvement.

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