#Arkle Trial

Despite getting a few things wrong, Tahmuras made it three from three over hurdles as he stepped up in grade to land the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown. He made mistakes at the last two flights and still looked green as he wandered on the run-in, but he saw the race out well under testing conditions. There is clearly more to come as he gains experience…

Dusart was sent off favourite for the open 3m handicap hurdle at Cheltenham on Friday, but could finish only sixth behind his stable companion Captain Morgs. Both runners attracted support, but it was Captain Morgs that coped better with the way the race unfolded. The omission of the final hurdle due to the low sun meant the tempo lifted only after…

Mighty Potter ridden by Jack Kennedy jumping the last to win at Down Royal This is a Drinmore drenched in quality. Only Gaillard Du Mesnil is a maiden over fences but that doesn't do him justice as the choice of Paul Townend was third to L'Homme Presse in the Brown Advisory and filled the same position in the Irish Grand National at this venue last…

NOTHING would give me more pleasure than to pull Paddy's pants down by finding you the winner of today's Paddy Power Gold Cup Handicap Chase. Cheltenham's feature race, live on ITV, is the first really big clash of the new jumps season. The two-and-a-half-mile thriller encourages a mix of speed-jumping and stamina, which is why the event has…

SATURDAY of the Paddy Power meeting is always a massive day with the Paddy Power Gold Cup the highlight. I only managed to win it once, but that was on Cyfor Malta in 2002, four years after he'd won it for the first time under AP McCoy. Only five horses have won it twice and he is one of them. He was a classy horse and even though I'm not sure…

The furore around the ground at Ascot and the withdrawal of Constitution Hill meant the quality of Boothill's performance in winning the Hurst Park Handicap Chase went under the radar. It shouldn't have done: Boothill, having just his third start over fences, put up a performance that would put him right in the mix for any graded novice chase…

There was no one standout performance over the three days of Cheltenham's November meeting, but for my money, Banbridge is the horse that did the most to stake his claim for top honours. Banbridge is already a Cheltenham Festival winner, having landed the Martin Pipe over hurdles last spring, but physically he's very much a chaser, a rangy gelding…

Sunday: Railway Bar Lismullen Hurdle, Navan Home By The Lee sprang a shock in the Railway Bar Lismullen Hurdle at Navan on Sunday, having traded at 999-1 in running on Betfair. The Grade 2 contest was widely seen as a clash between smart hurdlers Flooring Porter and Zanahiyr plus Bob Olinger, who was returning from fences. But they were upstaged by…

Joseph O'Brien's charge, who took the Martin Pipe at the Festival in March and landed a novice chase at Gowran on his fencing debut last month, was always travelling and jumping sweetly under J J Slevin. Tommy's Oscar likewise tanked through the race but after momentarily being short of room turning in, it soon became clear he wasn't going to get…

Pentland Hills (right) competing in the 2019 International Hurdle Early-season novice chases don't get much better than this. All bar outsider Fusain were rated 140-plus over hurdles and Pentland Hills is a Grade 1 winner in that discipline. Cheltenham is a tough place to jump and only six horses have made a successful debut over fences at the…

Champion trainer Paul Nicholls has his team in red-hot form and boasts plenty of good chances for Saturday's card at Cheltenham. Prior to Friday's action, a whopping 20 of the trainer's last 43 runners (47 per cent strike-rate) have won and the Ditcheat maestro has five runners at Cheltenham on Saturday. Monmiral, a Grade 1 winner as a juvenile and…

THE Cheltenham Festival might still be 124 days away - not that we're counting - but there is no time like the present to back your big-race fancies. There are plenty of stars on show in both Britain and Ireland this weekend and there will undoubtedly be some significant moves in the ante-post Festival markets. So, while we are still a long way out…