KING REVO (2.00) has been targeted at the Cheltenham Festival for the entire season and fingers crossed it's a master plan made in heaven.

There are few finer trainers than Patrick Haslam when it comes to laying a horse out for a specific race, therefore the very fact the Middleham handler has long eyed the Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase says plenty about the son of Revoque.

"King Revo is very well, Revoque's offspring usually want it soft but I don't think that is the case, he's more of a good-to-soft merchant," said a relieved Haslam, who wasn't certain of making the cut due to a massive entry for the £175,000 cash bonanza.

Much earlier in the current campaign Patrick didn't over exert his charge, only bringing the selection to near boiling point at Hexham last month when he scored for the first time over fences.

It was a victory which will have put the finishing touches to King Revo, who in the hands of the incomparable Tony McCoy is now fancied to strut his stuff on the stage of the greatest jumping festival in the world.

There could be more cheer for our region if Inglis Drever (3.15) manages to capture the World Hurdle for the second time.

Inglis Drever enjoyed his finest hour for owners Andrea and Graham Wylie when landing the prize in 2005, staying on strongly to floor the then reigning champion, French ace Baracouda.

Sadly, nine months after that glorious day, the gelding sustained a tendon problem and didn't reappear until November 2006, when just getting the better of Irish Wolf up the tiring Newbury home straight.

He's since topped that with a splendid course and distance second placing to Blazing Baileys, a smart effort seeing as Howard Johnson's string weren't quite firing on all cylinders at the time.

Sandwiched between those two, Nicky Richards' Monet's Garden (2.35) holds outstanding claims in the Ryanair Chase.

After a minor blip when Monet's Garden motored like a broken down bus in Kempton's King George, the flying grey stormed back to his tip-top best with a wide-margin triumph to bag the Grade 1 Commercial First Ascot Chase.

Tony Dobbin's mount has already netted well over £250,000 in career earnings, principally down to his five wins from just seven starts over fences.

Dobbin probably won't be in any hurry to make his move on Monet's Garden, however his spring-heeled nature should be a major asset in the jumping stakes, prior to turning on the power come the uphill climb to the line.

Although not many individuals make a winning return after a two-year absence, outsider Palarshan (4.00) has the form to buck the trend in the Racing Post Plate.

If you're prepared to take a walk down memory lane you'll discover Henry Daly's nine-year-old is a previous Cheltenham Festival winner, having lifted the 2003 Grand Annual Challenge Cup by virtue of a three-length success over Risk Assessor.

The troubled gelding has only run eight times since, but the handicapper has been generous and for believers in deja-vu, Palarshan's rating of 134 is identical to the one which enabled him to nab the Grand Annual.

Gungadu, a ludicrously short-priced 5-4 ante-post favourite for the National Hunt Chase, is well worth opposing seeing as he's not at all certain to get the marathon four-mile-and-one-furlong trip.

The runner I have in mind for an each-way strategy is Blue Splash (4.00), an up-and-coming young chaser who won by a country-mile at Newcastle last time out and represents the canny Welsh trainer, Peter Bowen.

Janus (Colin Woods) rewarded his Cheltenham Festival followers by staying nicely in profit to a £1 level stake via Tuesday's 9-2 winner Gaspara, together with yesterday's sparkling 10-1 scorer, Burntoakboy.