NEW YEAR’S DAY – CHELTENHAM

12:10 Maiden Hurdle

Firestep (Nico De Boinville)

It’s been a case of long time no see but he is finally making his eagerly awaited return to action after yonks off due to various little issues which have kept him off the track for so long, but he’s a nice horse and we hope our patience will be rewarded. As you would expect for the course, this is a very good Maiden so I couldn’t be confident by any means and I do expect large amounts of improvement, although on the other hand he has done plenty of work. The main aim is to get him back on the course, see what we’ve got, and go on from there. He’s a lovely horse but has a long way to go before we start talking about anything grand.

1:55 Chase

Fantastic Lady (Nico De Boinville)

She was very impressive at Market Rasen last time over three miles (in a race that has worked out well) but I think a stiff 2m4f around Cheltenham will be right up her street. Her Handicap mark doesn’t leave much room for manoeuvre but she’s smart and jumps well so comes into this with every chance.

2:30 G2 Relkeel Hurdle

Marie’s Rock (Nico De Boinville)

We picked this race out months ago because there’s just nowhere else to go for mares like her so we’ve deliberately come straight here and she’s raring to go. She won the Mares’ Hurdle (on the Old course) but won’t have any problems whatsoever on the New and I’m very much looking forward to getting her out. She’s top class.

First Street (James Bowen)

He has got to relax and settle if he is going to stay the trip and we’ve been through this pedigree with a fine-tooth comb and I must admit there isn’t a great amount of stamina in there. His dam just about got a mile and she was by Dutch Art, which hardly screams stamina, but we do have Golden Horn in there to help us so it’s quite possible he’ll stay. Obviously he was forced to miss the Unibet International and then Ascot last week so this is a slight afterthought but he’s in great form at home and deserves to take his chance off the back of a gutsy win at Newbury last time.

3:05

Call Me Lord (James Bowen)

He’s come back this season in fabulous form when beating Captain Morgs at Kempton (who subsequently won at Cheltenham) and we all saw what happened at Sandown last time in what was a very unfortunate scenario and I don’t blame poor Ben Bromley one bit. These things happen and the only annoying thing about the whole incident is that he got put up another 2lbs for finishing second! That aside, I’m happy with him and in his current form you could not rule him out.