I fancy Sir Alex Ferguson to turn Cheltenham red with this awesome 89-1 double on day three of Cheltenham

YOU have to go back 25 years to find the one and only time Nicky Henderson won the Stayers’ Hurdle.

That came when Mick Fitz drove Bacchanal home to beat Limestone Lad by a length.

PAChappers thinks Sir Alex can get a repeat of these scenes and win the Ryanair for the second year running with Protektorat[/caption]

An awful lot of gin has passed under the Seven Barrows bridge since but today might just be a Lucky one for Hendo.

On ratings there is not much between the leading contenders for the Grade 1 three-miler.

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Gordon Elliott’s defending champ Teahupoo clearly comes out on top with a mark of 164 but he is certainly no fun to back at miserly odds of 6-4.

Oddly, he’s relatively unexposed over the trip, which is also the case for Henderson’s improver LUCKY PLACE (4.00), the mount of Nico De Boinville.

In a light career, Lucky Place has only run eight times and three of those efforts have come at Cheltenham, including a fourth last year in a big field Coral Cup.

This season’s Ascot and Cheltenham winner has never gone this far before but, if he gets the trip he could easily have bundles of improvement to show us all and certainly strikes me as a decent bet at around 6-1.

The supporting Ryanair Chase is a belter.

Fact to File is down in trip, as is the King George runner-up Il Est Francais, while the defending champion won’t be easy to deny.

That’s PROTEKTORAT (3.20) who did this column a great favour last year.

Once placed in a Gold Cup, Protektorat jumped for fun when winning at Windsor last time and he’s only 4lb off his highest-ever mark.

Last year he was brilliant and, while he might prefer a bit more juice in the ground, his Gold Cup effort came on good to soft.

SIXANDAHALF (1.20) will take some beating in the opening mares novice hurdle.

A decent handicapper on the Flat with experience — she was third in the Irish Ces and is unbeaten over hurdles with a staying-on success at Fairyhouse. I like her.

CALDWELL POTTER (2.00) can give Paul Nicholls something to smile about in the novice handicap chase.

The horse, part-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, has been mocked by many this season having cost £740,000 and been stuffed at both Cheltenham and Windsor.

That said, he’s got a tasty handicap mark of 146 for a Grade 1-winning hurdler and he had no problem with yielding ground in his bumper days with Gordon Elliott.

ONE BIG BANG (2.40) can win the Pertemps Final, despite the fact he has gone up 7lb for a victory at Haydock.

However, he stays strongly and will enjoy running at a furious pace.

He’s got an each-way chance for rising star James Owen and jockey Jamie Brace, who takes off a handy 5lb.

I’ll take JAGWAR (4.40) to motor home in the Plate, a handicap chase over two and a half miles.

He is edging up the weights but has obvious claims here as an improver for Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero.

This trip is ideal, and he kept on well to win at the track last time.

He is up 7lb for that but looks a good jumper and has the experience to cope with the hustle and bustle.

MIDNIGHT OUR FRED (5.20) can strike in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup.

He is reaching his peak at eight years old but I think he has more improvement in him and was a decent runner-up here in April.

A mark of 132 is tough but he’s got each-way credentials. Good luck… and Yeeehaaa!