David Christie believes he has never had a better chance of training a winner at Cheltenham, as he pins his hopes on Winged Leader in the St. James’ Place Festival Hunters Chase on March 18.

The Derrylin-based trainer has a long history of success in high-profile races, but he admits that victory at the Cheltenham Festival would be one of the highlights of his career.

“There wouldn’t be anything like it,” he acknowledged. “It’s the Cheltenham Festival and there are not many horses coming out of Northern Ireland that get there – never mind win it.

“If you think of all the horses there are in the UK and Ireland, to win any one of those championship races over there would be special. Notwithstanding that you are from up behind Derrylin, where there hardly are any horses, I think that would stand pretty high in the ratings as regards lifetime achievements.

“You put so much effort into going to Cheltenham that by the time you get there you think you could have a chance, and then reality sets in after the race and you realise how small an operation you are.

“I have been over there now five or six times with horses, but I haven’t really got that close.

“About seventh is the closest I have got, but this time, if I have a bit of luck, Winged Leader has a bit of a chance.”

Christie has two horses entered in the race, with Vaucelet also a possibility to run, but it is 6-1 shot Winged Leader which is likely to make the front running, regardless of the condition of the ground.

“He is sitting second favourite at this minute in time, and I think he justifies being in the top four in the betting,” said Christie.

“He is a big horse but he won at Listowel at the end of the last season on good ground, the Hunter Chase, and he beat Billaway [the favourite for the St. James’ Place Festival Hunters Chase] four weeks ago in Thurles when the ground was good to yielding.

“He also won the Hunter Chase at Down Royal two years ago and it was into the knees, so ground wise I’m not too concerned for him.

“Whatever comes, I think he will be able to deal with it. He is not second favourite for no reason. I know the form of a lot of the horses in around him in the betting so we will see.”

Christie’s third possible runner at the meeting is Koshari, which qualified for the festival with victory at Aintree.

The horse has been entered in two races, with the World Hurdle and the Pertemps races both still options, but Christie admits a race win is looking unlikely.

“He is probably not classy enough to get close in the World Hurdle, but good enough to run well,” he revealed.

“In the Pertemps final, which is about handicap, he will be carrying top weight, and very few at top weight win at the Cheltenham Festival.

“He falls into that category of probably having too much weight to win it but good enough to run a good race.”

With two weeks until the action gets under way, David is trying to keep his preparations as low-key as possible ahead of the big occasion.

“I don’t want to think about it too much at this stage,” he conceded.

“It is huge to have three horses going from such a small yard, but for now I’m just trying to keep everything as normal as possible.

“It is difficult, because I was point-to-pointing on Saturday and everyone is wanting to know about them, but I am trying to park it and do nothing too abnormal.

“The horses entered are all in good form, and we are looking forward to getting there.”