Paul Nicholls runs the rule over his seven main hopes for the Cheltenham Festival
“He ran OK in the Hennessy off a big weight on ground that was quite testing. He ran over hurdles at Christmas, but didn’t run any sort of race.
“I was always suspicious of his breathing and after his run at Ascot we cauterized his soft palate. That’s helped and if you look at his record last year his best runs were in the World Hurdle and at Aintree.
“I think on better ground you’ll see him in a completely different light. He’s a high-class horse and it’s coming together really well (for the World Hurdle).
“I still see him as a chaser and he’ll do that next year, but this year’s Gold Cup looks hot.
“I’m not pretending he’s going to be a Denman, but he’s still a good horse.”
“He looks really well and if he hadn’t run on Boxing Day he would probably be a lot shorter price than he is for the Champion Hurdle.
“I probably shouldn’t have run him (in the Christmas Hurdle) but by doing that we were able to give him a month off and freshen him up. He goes there fresh and Cheltenham suits him.
“You can forget his last run as it came a bit too soon. He has an outside chance of being in the frame and he will have a gallop next week somewhere.
“The faster they go, the better he will be.”
“It’s been a nightmare with him all season until he ran the other day. He got beat first time last year and he probably just needs a run first time.
“At Newbury the other day he was coming back from a long lay-off, he travelled well to three out then just got tired in the ground. He’ll improve a lot for that and likes Cheltenham and the better ground.
“I’m aware we’ve a mountain to climb to beat Un De Sceaux (Champion Chase), but the others are much of a muchness and we’re hoping for an improved run.
“There was no real standout horse in the race last year and I felt we could beat them all. We’ve got three weeks to get some hard graft into him.
“The idea is to go to Cheltenham and then to Sandown on the last day of the season.”
“He’s in the RSA Chase and the Ultima (Handicap Chase). He went up 7lb for running well at Ascot and is now on a mark of 147. He probably ran a career best giving 7lb to Vyta Du Roc and Minella Rocco.
“He was favourite for the Great Yorkshire Chase before that where he was very careful over the first few fences and it was game over.
“He’s probably better in small fields at this stage, rather than big handicaps and if he runs at Cheltenham it will be the RSA.
“Hopefully the ground will be soft as he likes that.”
“He’s had a good season, winning the Haldon Gold Cup and running solid races in the Tingle Creek and Clarence House.
“Two miles is just sharp enough for him and I’m going to try him over a trip so he’ll run in the Ryanair. He’s best when he’s nice and fresh. We have to work him hard as he carries plenty of condition.
“The Ryanair is an open race and I think it could be ideal for him.”
“He’s been a nightmare to train. He came back from John’s (Hales, owner) in September with an infection in his foot and then he had an infection in his sinus and a problem with his tooth as well.
“It’s not ideal and he’s had a month on the water treadmill back at John’s. He came back on January 1 and we’ve really got stuck into him since then.
“He had a racecourse gallop with Saphir Du Rheu last week and will have another next week.
“I’d have liked to have got some runs into him but circumstances have stopped that from happening and he’s on the back foot a bit.
“He’s starting to get it together nicely now and I think he’ll improve for another piece of work. It’s tough going to the World Hurdle on the back of the problems he’s had.
“He could go to Cheltenham and Aintree. If we missed Aintree we could look at some of the good races in Auteuil.”
“Although he’s in the Neptune, he’ll almost certainly run in the Coral Cup. He’s a really nice horse, but I’m not pretending he’s as well handicapped as Aux Ptits Soins was last year.
“You can forget his last run as it came a bit too soon.
“He has an outside chance of being in the frame and he will have a gallop next week somewhere.
“It took him a while to acclimatise over here but he couldn’t have won any easier the other day.”
