Cheltenham’s three-day November Meeting comes to a close on Sunday. The final day contains the Grade 2 Shloer Chase featuring Jonbon, Edwardstone, Nube Negra and Editeur Du Gite but the betting highlight is the Greatwood.

16 horses head to post for this race, competing over two miles and 87 yards of the Old Course and taking on eight hurdles in the process. For those at the top of the weights, this race can be considered as a Champion Hurdle Trial but it is usually targeted as a fine race to win in its own right.

I Like To Move It proved it can be done from the top, but many others have carried 11st and below to victory which we’ve kept in mind.

£100,000 is up for grabs in total, the predicted good to soft ground is ideal and these are the six runners we like best: 

Main Contenders

Iberico Lord

11st is a nice racing weight and 126 is a pretty lowly rating for Iberico Lord considering we all believe he has some genuine talent.

After arriving from France to Nicky Henderson’s yard, Iberico Lord began hurdling this time last year and took in four such races over the course of the season.

It was a slow burn, but after a breathing operation he improved from race two to race three, winning at Stratford on heavy ground.

He went up another level when second at Sandown in a valuable race in late April and we can bank on the fact that he will be better again at the beginning of this season, hopefully first time out.

Knickerbockerglory 

Dan Skelton’s Knickerbocker Glory has the advantage of having had a recent run. Just 15 days ago the seven-year-old won a handicap at Ascot, doing it in decent style as well and in the shape of a horse who won’t need more than the two weeks off.

Having improved plenty over hurdles in the last couple of years we have to believe there is another level he can go to, though this time round he is up 7lbs in the weights. Tristan Durrell takes the ride.

L’Eau Du Sud

Ahead of Knickerbocker Glory on the pecking list at Dan Skelton’s yard, if not on our list, is L’Eau Du Sud.

A five-year-old looking to add to Sir Alex Ferguson’s winning weekend, this horse is young and potentially improving but he has had eight races already over hurdles. He has been beaten in all three in this country too, so he’s not hidden from the handicapper.

Lookaway 

Neil King’s Lookaway will be very popular with punters. Despite being around 9/1 at the time of writing, his form figures are 34611-1. If he’s won three in a row, why not four?

He is improving for sure, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that he’s been winning novice races and has now been handed a mark of 132 which does make things difficult for him.

Nemean Lion 

Kerry Lee’s representative is 3 from 5 over hurdles and cannot be discounted easily.

Wins at Hereford, Kelso and Ffos Las don’t entitle a horse to win a big race at Cheltenham, but in between he has also been placed at Haydock and Sandown.

It could be that he’s a little out of his depth here, but he’s worth a place on the list all the same.

Onlyamatteroftime 

Onlyamatteroftime is a strange one for us to judge. Based purely on the numbers he should not be competitive with the best of this bunch. Despite this, he is set to go off favourite.

Whether it is known in the background that the horse has improved for his high-profile stable switch or whether his price is simply down to the name Willie Mullins now being attached to him, we’ll have to wait to find out.

Summary

This is a right race according to our own ratings, just as it should be. There is perhaps some value in Knickerbocker Glory for each-way backers, but we’re betting on potential as well as ability this time.

Had IBERICO LORD been with one of a number of other stables, we could question whether he is ready for this after 204 days. Nicky Henderson will definitely have got his prep right, he should have improved plenty since his last win and he’ll get plenty of help from the saddle with Nico de Boinville up top.

This horse is owned by JP McManus too, so any significant money for him before the race should be taken very seriously too.