At first glance the 2017 Betfair Chase looks like being a very competitive renewal. The Jessica Harrington trained Sizing John is the ante-post favourite closely followed by Bristol De Mai with Cue Card still trading at an each way price in the early betting....

The ground at Wincanton is currently being given as  soft after 11 mls of overnight rain; however, with plenty of rain predicted during the course of the day the going could easily become very testing by 3pm. One would imagine that Charbel is entered...

I suppose the only place to start the first preview of the season is with the market leader Coneygree. The first point I would make with him is that he would be the correct favourite based on the quality of his 2015 Cheltenham Gold...