ALAN SHEARER briefly swops the Champions' League for the Champion Hurdle this afternoon when the horse he part-owns, Intersky Falcon (3.15), lines up for the £300,000 Smurfit-sponsored feature race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival.

The Magpies' skipper is on match duty for his team in Italy, but he's vowed to listen to the live race commentary of the race by telephone. It's a crying shame for Shearer that he cannot be on hand to see Intersky Falcon, who at odds of around 100/30 is a strongly-fancied second favourite for the two mile championship event.

At least Alan can take consolation from the fact that his good friend and Intersky.com syndicate supremo, former Newcastle United assistant manager Terry McDermott, will be there to give him a blow-by-blow version of events.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Intersky Falcon, unbeaten in four outings this season, probably has most to fear from his stable-mate and current hot favourite, Rhinestone Cowboy, also trained by Jonjo O'Neill.

There's no doubt that Rhinestone Cowboy is a major fly in the ointment having won all five of his races this term with embarrassing ease. McDermott remains philosophical about the prospects of being beaten by the O'Neill runner.

"It is going to be a great occasion. Win, lose, or draw, it is a pleasure to be involved in a horse with the ability to run in a Champion Hurdle. As Howard Johnson said to me, we could wait 100 years and not get a horse as good as this one."

Crook-based Johnson has incidentally already reportedly reserved the name "Shearer" in anticipation of training a horse for the legendary Newcastle striker next season.

By far the next largest pot to be claimed is the £140,000 Irish Independent Arkle Challenge Trophy in which many peoples' idea of the banker bet at the meeting, the Paul Nicholls-trained Azertyuiop, participates.

Azertyuiop has looked absolutely invincible over fences throughout the past six months, warming up for the Festival with a blistering twenty-five length demolition of a useful-looking field at Wincanton on Saturday February 15th.

Quite a tongue-twister for the racecourse commentator if as expected the heavily-backed gelding is involved in the finish, however at an anticipated starting price of approximately 11-8, Azertyuiop's backers are not exactly going to make their fortune. Better value, and definitely worth an each-way saver is the Richard Johnson-ridden, Hand Inn Hand (2.35).

Henry Daly's handsome seven-year-old was particularly impressive when he hacked up at Kempton recently. All that in the face of ultra-fast ground which wouldn't have been totally to Hand Inn Hand's liking, nor the extremely sharp nature of the track since he's a big long-striding sort. On offer at 10-1 with all of the major firms, Hand Inn Hand is a progressive chaser not to dismissed lightly at those inviting odds.

Martin Pipe, who heads the trainers' table at the fixture over recent years, is normally good for at least one winner per day.

With so many entries it's hard to pinpoint his number one prospect, although Pipe has got himself well covered in the Kim Muir Handicap Chase going in mob-handed with four runners. To my way of thinking the pick of quintet is the Montreal (4.40), partnered by the brilliant amateur, Jamie Moore. Montreal possesses impeccable credentials having won at the track before, finished third at last year'' Festival in the Pertemps Final, and run a creditable prep-race when fifth in the valuable Racing Post Chase at Kempton last time out.

If you fancy a bet away from the glitz and glamour of Cheltenham, Sedgefield-bound Hombre (3.30), a previous track and trip winner, will hopefully be man enough for the job in the Tote Exacta Handicap Chase.

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