The likes of Shishkin, Jonbon, Luccia, Dusart and Excello worked at Windsor the other day, and while it was pretty heavy ground, they all went through it ok and it was just good to get them away for the day and stretch their legs somewhere different. The team at Windsor have done a fantastic job and I’m looking forward to jumping resuming there. The course is in great shape and will make a very welcome re-addition to the jumps calendar very soon

It’s a typically quiet start to the season, with just a handful of recent runners, but we’ll start to build things up over the next fortnight or so when things really kick into gear.

Two runners for @sevenbarrows at Cheltenham on Saturday and my thoughts on their chances are below:

2:25 Hcap Chase

Quick Draw (Nico De Boinville)

He got the trip very well at Ludlow on his first start back, having run a nice race over this sort of trip over hurdles at Ayr in the spring, and he’s been in good shape at home. This is a step up in grade, and he’s off a career high mark, but he’s a very consistent person and will love the ground.

3:00 Hcap Hurdle

Hyland (Nico De Boinville)

He’s 6lbs higher following his comfortable victory at Warwick earlier this month, and we’re going back up in trip with him, but he was second over three miles at Newbury last season and should handle the ground, although he wouldn’t want it too testing. I thought it was a good performance giving weight to the second and third at Warwick and I think there could still be a little bit of improvement in him.

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