THE current season has already been going very well for us, with a lot of winners at a very good strike rate, but the class and competition steps up a gear or two now with this Cheltenham meeting.

We obviously have our established stable stars to come later on down the line, chief among them a certain Constitution Hill, but we have been schooling on grass and our horses seem forward, and what strikes me most at the moment is perhaps the strength in depth we have in the novice hurdle divisions.

We are in a happy place at the moment, but let’s not run before we can walk.

14:25 Cheltenham

Quick Draw

He is pretty good on his day and he was certainly that when winning for me at Ludlow earlier in the month. The downside to that wide-margin win is that he has gone up to a career-high mark of 134 but he clearly has a good chance in his current form, for all this is clearly a much deeper handicap.

15:00 Cheltenham

Hyland

He is another of ours to have started their season in winning form, doing it nicely over 2m5f at Warwick. He went up 6lb for that, which was probably on the harsh side, but we know he stays this 3m trip well and hopefully there is plenty more to come from him as a relatively lightly-raced 6yo.

16:10 Cheltenham

Broadway Boy

He proved himself a progressive hurdler last season, including a win here, and the 5yo got his chasing career off to a very good start when winning at Worcester last month. The stable have also got the promising Weveallbeencaught in here but Broadway Boy has a lot to recommend him, even with his 5lb penalty for that Worcester win. Flooring Porter is the obvious one to fear on his chasing debut but the other runner, Galway winner Toss Again, is not without his chance either. Only four runners, but a very strong race on paper.

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