Murphy's Kalahari King goes in the Ryanair Chase on Thursday

Middleham trainer Ferdy Murphy has high hopes of adding to his nine Cheltenham Festival wins at the 2011 event.

Murphy has eight horses earmarked for the Festival, including Poker De Sivola in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase and Kalahari King in the Ryanair Chase.

He told BBC Radio York: "Kalahari King has been to three Festivals and been placed second, third and fourth, so it would be nice to go one better."

The 2011 Cheltenham Festival marks 100 years of the event.

Murphy added: "The Festival is fantastic, it's the pinnacle we work up to all season.

"There are seven or eight thousand horses in training at the start of the year, and we have 24 races [at Cheltenham] so there will be a lot of disappointed owners.

"If you're lucky enough to have a horse good enough to go down to Cheltenham it's fantastic."

On Poker De Sivola, the winner of the 2010 National Hunt Chase, Murphy said: "He runs this year in the Cross Country with the same rider Katie Walsh riding him."

Also on Tuesday, Murphy has high hopes for Divers in the Centenary Novices' Handicap Chase: "He won at Carlisle and Musselburgh and has had a feel of the fences (at Cheltenham)," said Murphy.

"On Friday we've got three in the Johnny Henderson [Grand Annual Chase]. De Boitron is probably the best of them, Graham [Lee, jockey] is going to ride him."

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