The Open Meeting at Cheltenham signals the start to the National Hunt Season in earnest and automatically generates a certain giddiness while directing one's thoughts to the Festival in March! (feelings excellently expressed by Donn McClean; http://starbets.ie/horse-racing/savour-the-journey/ . It is the first in a series of exciting forthcoming weekends where notebooks will be at the ready, albeit mindful of the various twists and turns.
Today's main event is the Paddy Power Gold Cup, a typically competitive renewal where Paul Nicholls aims to break his duck with the promising Mon Parrain. Too short in the market to support, it will nevertheless be interesting to see how fares and if he will be capable of filling the obvious void in his trainer's armoury. However the best horse in the field is the very progressive, Wishful Thinking. I fully expect him to be involved and make the frame, but his lofty weight suggests that he will find one too good. Nicky Henderson's string have begun to hit form and while Dave's Dream has claims, I prefer his stablemate, Quantitativeeasing at the prices. His second at the festival was a commendable effort and in a strongly run race, he could well be running on at the finish.
The Greatwood Hurdle on Sunday is traditionally a key race in Champion Hurdle considerations. This year's race looks long on quantity rather than quality and it is doubtful, that it will throw up a major contender. Nevertheless it's a solid handicap and going to stick with A Media Luz, who should improve from her promising run at Ascot.
enjoy....
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