Willie Mullins is Pep Guardiola – There should be no excuses for under-performing when you have an abundance of riches like the stable of top Irish trainer Willie Mullins. Good owners are throwing the best horses and resources your way. Expect Willie to have a much more enjoyable spring of 2025 than Pep, who realistically only has the FA Cup to aim for. It may not be Man City’s season, but Guardiola is the closest to the genius of Closutton in terms of prizes already won.

David Pipe is Mikel Arteta – Trainer David Pipe took over at Pond House Stables in 2006, the stable had won it all in the late 90s and nearly 2000s. Following on from his father Martin, David has found it hard to recapture old glories. 15 subsequent Cheltenham Festival winners and a Grand National are not to be sniffed at, but they're the equivalent of Arteta's FA Cup and Community Shields at the Emirates as the big prizes of a Trainers' title and a Premier League title, respectively, continue to elude them both.

The Paul Nicholls Stable are Manchester United – with glory days long behind them, the Ditcheat stable of trainer Paul Nicholls used to scoop the biggest prizes at Cheltenham for fun, now they’d settle for a handicap or two. Purchasing other people’s expensive cast-offs for big money is a risky strategy, one that isn’t paying off for either institution. While all the while Sir Alex Ferguson - a key owner at the stable as well as a United legend – casts a close eye over what’s going wrong!

Paul Townend is Mo Salah – life is fun when the best opportunities come your way, and jockey Paul Townend is odds-on to be the rider with the most wins at this year’s festival. Like Salah, the assists from elsewhere come thick and fast, and sometimes all he has to do is steer an odds-on horse near to the goal of the winning line to get the glory.

AJ O’Neill is Arne Slot – imagine you’re brought into one of the biggest institutions in your sport and everything is already there for you. Granted, trainer AJ has worked alongside his old man Jonjo for a while now, but his name is now above the door at the Jackdaws Castle stables, where a number of key Cheltenham hopes reside. Like Arne, he’s just had to come in and not change much. Expect them both to be taking prizes in the spring!

The Gordon Elliott Stable are Chelsea – you might have fallen foul of the rules a bit, a while back, owners keep changing. You’ve got plenty of prizes to show for it along the way. But in some circles you’re not so popular. Some races come along and you don’t even know which of your stars you want to field. But the prizes should keep coming eventually, even if the fans aren’t quite as happy as they used to be.

Nicky Henderson is Ange Postecoglou – when it comes to the biggest stage, injuries just aren’t accepted as excuses. Trainer Henderson has had to put up with the ‘will he – won’t he’ saga of Constitution Hill running in the Champion Hurdle – a plan that looks firmly on track now. On the way he lost Arkle favourite Sir Gino to a knock. But he always delivers trophies, doesn’t he?

Venetia Williams is Sarina Wiegman – and while the others deal with their own dramas Venetia just quietly goes about her business and delivers for a stable where she has brought home numerous prizes as a top trainer.