Forpadydeplasterer is now back in the picture after his trainer ruled him out of the Festival two weeks ago with lameness.
Not ideal. If he does line up which now looks likely, the last 11 Arkle winners to run here the next season have been placed at worst but to win a championship race surely a horse has to have a trouble-free preparation so he wouldn't be for me and, besides, Kalahari King really should have won the Arkle anyway.
As for Kalahari King, Ferdy Murphy commented this week he may not improve all that much on his Doncaster win as he commented that the state of his fitness surprised him and clearly his work on Redcar beach had him fitter than he realised.
It looks like McCoy will either ride Petit Robin or Big Zeb. Both horses are Geraghty's ride so I imagine McCoy will ride whichever Geraghty doesn't as he hasn't got a mount in the race at the moment and Henderson and Murphy both like using him when he is available.