RACING: Sometimes it's possible to delve into a race's every permutation and possibility and in the middle of all the agonising miss out on what is blindingly obvious.

Rooster Booster's attempt at a second Smurfit Champion Hurdle looks a case in point.

There will be no shortage of sceptics at Cheltenham today, nodding sagely about how they don't make champion hurdlers the way they used to.

Where's the quality, they will argue before sniffing about it being another bad year. Almost as bad as last year. And of course the common denominator is the solid grey 10-year-old who rejoices in one of the most unfortunate names a major title winner has ever had to carry.

There's an old racing saying that bad will beat worse. No bad horse has carried the Champion Hurdle crown and while Rooster Booster may be no Istabraq, Sea Pigeon or Sir Ken, he is by no means the worst winner of the famous race.

In fact the former handicapper progressed enough last season to hand out a thrashing the likes of which has rarely been seen in recent years. Quite what he beat is open to debate but the Rooster could only beat what was put in front of him and only the stingiest begrudger could crib about the way he did it.

A year later and the overall quality of the race looks if anything to have weakened slightly. Supposedly worthy challengers like Back In Front and Spirit Leader have fallen by the wayside, leaving a four-strong Irish team that appears just as unconvincing as the home one.

Davenport Milenium looks the best hope for the visitors and on really good ground the Willie Mullins-trained eight-year-old would have appealed as a lively outsider. Unfortunately for him though, a recent combination of rain, snow and watering will probably have taken enough of the speed out of the going.

It's hard to argue against those who say Golden Cross got his quota of fortune for the season in that famous 66 to 1 shocker at Christmas and while Fota Island could go well at a big price, he will hardly go well enough to win.

As for the home horses, Rigmarole and Intersky Falcon have been increasingly pitched as genuine Champion Hurdle contenders, which probably says more about the others than it does about them.

Intersky Falcon cut his own throat by being ridden so forcibly in the race last year but nevertheless he hardly appears ideal Cheltenham material.

Around Kempton, Tipperary or any other flat easy course, then maybe, but not around here.

Rigmarole put him in his place around another easy circuit at Wincanton, a performance that was enough to make the Nicholls horse the main ante-post threat to Rooster Booster. He has a progressive profile similar to Rooster Booster's last year, or so the argument goes.

It usually comes from those who have damned the current champion for his presumption but there is still a fluidity to Rigmarole's jumping that makes him a credible threat. But is it credible enough? Is it possible for instance to imagine him carrying top weight in the Tote Gold Trophy and his jockey cursing his luck because he gets run out of it by just a short head? Is it possible to picture him coming down the hill and that same jockey with his arms stretched to bursting point just to delay that winning surge a fraction longer?

Rooster Booster had Richard Johnson fuming at Newbury and measuring his arms here last year. The horse looks at least as good again this season and connections believe he is better.

The argument against is that Rooster Booster needs a cut-throat gallop in order to drop the bit and come through tiring horses at the end. Yet at Haydock in January his opposition crawled and he made his way home from the front.

That wouldn't be ideal today but it does indicate more flexibility to Johnson's options than is generally acknowledged.

Davenport Milenium looks the best option for becoming just the second Irish-trained winner in 20 years but sometimes the obvious can be just too obvious. Don't make that mistake this time.