Which horses can spring a Cheltenham surprise?

Although plenty of the focus at the Cheltenham Festival is on the Championship events it is often the handicaps that see some of the biggest gambles landed as horses who have been specially prepared for the day come to life.

So where are the potential "plots" this year, well with the weights now published here's a selection of horses who could well score at decent prices in the Festival handicaps.

First up is the Nicky Henderson trained Tanks For That, he's had a light campaign, although he has one piece of form that advertises his chance very well, his second to Champion Chase contender Woolcombe Folly in December. Since then he has only been seen out once over hurdles and although he wasn't competitive in that outing it kept him ticking over. Remember that the Grand Annual that he is to be aimed at is named after the trainer's father and Henderson has won the race before with Greenhope who was given a very similar preparation to Tanks For That and anyone looking to bet on Cheltenham racing should remember this.

It's not often that you see a Royal Ascot winner running at Prestbury Park but David Pipe's Junior will be a versatile contender in whatever race he runs in. He's in the Pertemps Hurdle and a couple of chases, with the Pipe team leaning towards the Kim Muir. With a decent amateur doing the steering in that race he would be an interesting contender especially on good ground.

Snap Tie has not raced since winning a novice chase at Cheltenham in October 2009 and at first glance does not look the most obvious candidate for the County Hurdle. But his Cheltenham record bears close inspection (2-6-1-2-2-3-7-1) and the seventh in the Champion Hurdle saw him unluckily left at the start. There is a quiet confidence from the Hobbs team and Snap Tie is being steadily backed with plenty of Cheltenham 2011 bets.

There are sure to be plenty of extra plots in the run up to the Festival but those three are of interest from three powerful stable which have had Cheltenham Festival handicap success in the past and should be respected when the money comes.