CHELTENHAM – FRIDAY

12:10 Novice Hurdle

Chantry House (Barry Geraghty)

He’s been ready to go for a while but, for mainly ground reasons, we haven’t managed to get him out yet but the going is currently Good to Soft, and as long as it stays that way it should be perfect as we’ve always thought a great deal of him. His schooling has been great and we’ll have a fair idea where we stand after this.

Pipesmoker (Nico de Boinville)

He’s no stable second string by any stretch of the imagination and is a very smart horse in his own right. He got badly outpaced on debut at Huntingdon in May when the ground was plenty quick enough (for him) but that experience has done him the world of good and he goes here with a very live chance.

12:45 Novice Chase

Pym (Nico de Boinville)

I was very pleased with him at Ascot last time and he’s really gaining confidence with every run. We gave him a pop over a few fences this morning to keep his eye on the ball and he was absolutely fine. I wouldn’t have over rated this race to be honest but on the other hand he’s very much entitled to take his chance over a trip which could end up being his optimum.

1:20 Handicap Hurdle

Never Adapt (Barry Geraghty)

She ran desperately free on her one and only run for us at Cheltenham last November when she unfortunately picked up an issue which has kept her off the track until now. We have done plenty of work to help her relax and she seems much more settled at home, although I don’t work her with any other horses so she does everything on her own and it will be interesting to see what sort of proposition she is now. We’ve kept the hood on just in case and Barry will probably drop her out the back and feel his way. It’s a fact finding mission but she arrived at a Seven Barrows with a very big reputation and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her run well.

3:40 Handicap Hurdle

Falco Blitz (Nico de Boinville)

He won over 2m around Fakenham which is about as tight as you can get so this is quite some experiment going up to 3m at Cheltenham but he looked to stay 2m5f last time and he’s a beautifully relaxed horse so should settle into a nice rhythm. He’ll be going novice chasing in a minute so now’s a good time to check he stays. He’s a solid consistent horse who will hopefully go well.

Pentland Hills leads the Saturday squad at Cheltenham in the Unibet International Hurdle so be sure to check back here for my thoughts on our runners over the weekend.