Trainers views on their Cheltenham horses

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Alan King Montbazon He goes for the Supreme Novices' on Tuesday and was a high-class bumper horse last year. He won the Doncaster Sales race impressively and then was second to Steps Of Freedom at Aintree on Grand National day. He has won his last two and had a confidence booster at Plumpton. He won well at Newbury having taken it up as Colour Squadron fell - I think he is learning all the time and gets better with the more experience he gets. He worked very well on Wednesday and he won't mind the good ground we look like getting at the Festival if the forecast is right. Hold On Julio He was bought last season at Doncaster but we did not really realise what we had until we started working him last autumn. Everyone who sat on him in September and October said he was a really nice horse and he duly trotted up at Sandown on his debut for us. He followed up next time again at Sandown despite making some fairly serious errors as he did not meet the Railway Fences on a good stride - but he did win very well. We did have a little hold up with him at the end of January as he was due to go to Doncaster and I could not get him ready for Kempton last week so the logical plan was to wait for the JLT Specialty Chase at Cheltenham. It has been a lucky race for us with Fork Lightning our first ever Festival winner in it and Bensalem last year. Bless The Wings He is a course and distance winner in January and goes for the novices' handicap chase over two and a half miles. He is a progressive young horse and has won two out of three over fences - he is also in the Byrne Group Chase later in the week but at this stage is more likely to go for the novice. He jumped very well at the end of January and was perhaps in front a little bit too soon but there was a fair bit of carnage around him three out. He stayed on powerfully up the hill and is in real good order so there is no need to give him another run after that. He won't mind what the ground comes up as he is an adaptable horse. Iron Chancellor He will be heading for the four-miler.He has been placed in all his starts over fences this season and trotted up in a very weak race at Southwell. I was desperate to give him one more run and he has to go left-handed so the only place I could find was Fakenham. He did not handle the track at all and was taken off his feet although he did stay on at the end and passed quite a few horses. The trip will not be an issue - he might not have the class for the Festival race but I hope he will be staying on towards the finish. Secret Edge He is in the Martin Pipe, Fred Winter and the Neptune Investment but he seems pretty unlikely to get into the former looking at the weights. I would be very nervous of the two miles in the Fred Winter on goodish ground as he finished third to Batonnier in January over further. I would love to run him somewhere so it is looking like the Neptune and he will get an extra four pounds from Batonnier in that. We will keep all the options open. Batonnier I thought a couple years ago he was our best bumper horse and he won well on his debut at Fontwell but he could not follow up in another bumper. It has taken a long time but he finished third on his debut this year at Ascot and then we brought him back over New Year at Cheltenham where he ran a lovely race staying on from the back to finish second. We decided to let him take his chance in a graded race back at Cheltenham at the end of January and his homework on the run-up to that had been very good. He settled well in rear and moved very smoothly up to beat Broadbackbob, who was injured but Nicky Henderson thinks an awful lot about. He has an entry in the Coral Cup but we are 99 per cent certain to run in the Neptune. He is very much a good-ground horse and is an interesting runner. He has to improve again but is giving every indication at home that he has certainly not gone backwards. Walkon He will head to the RSA but I would be slightly concerned if the ground was quick as he has had problems in the past so we just have to be a little bit careful. He was a former high-class hurdler and was impressive on his chasing debut at Exeter. He has been beaten twice around Newbury since and has been in top gear leaving the back straight and looks to be crying out for a step-up in trip. Maybe he does not like Newbury but I can see no reason why - he is in good order and we should see a much better horse over three miles though ideally he would want a drop of rain. Invictus He was a reasonably good novice hurdler last season and has made rapid progress since he has seen a fence. We started him off in a novice handicap at Hereford and he was very impressive and then he really stepped up on that again at Plumpton where he gave a horse from the Gigginstown Stud in Ireland a thrashing. There was a slight hiccup when he was beaten at Cheltenham but he returned pretty sore after he lost his near-fore shoe fairly on in the race. We gave him a bit of time to get over that and then he won the Reynoldstown at Ascot very impressively after travelling very well. One or two people think that Bobs Worth will turn the tables but I would be surprised if he did. He is a really exciting prospect and for a big horse he does operate on good ground. Vendor He goes for Fred Winter - he is ex-French and showed good form around Auteuil as he was placed in a Grade One. We have only given him one run and he won at Newbury hard on the steel despite missing the last when he landed very awkwardly. He did well to pick the other horse up and apart from that I don't think he came off the bridle. I could not quite believe it when the handicapper gave him a mark of 122 following that Newbury run so we decided not to run him again. He has gone up since stood in his box to 129 but I would be very disappointed if he was not a whole lot better than that. Something will come and ruin it I suppose and ideally I would have liked to have got another run into him but he is as good as my two Triumph horses. He has not raced on good ground but he has a decent action and I would not be surprised if he did not improve for it. He is an exciting prospect whatever happens. Fire Fighter He is a bit of a lad and won well at Warwick before just being touched off at Sandown. He will probably wear some blinkers in the Fred Winter just to sharpen him a little bit. Medermit He has enjoyed a grand year as he won the Haldon Gold Cup and has been placed whenever he has run since. We sent him to Cheltenham under a big weight in December and then he ran a smashing race at Ascot behind Riverside Theatre. I genuinely don't know which race he is going to run in as he is in the Ryanair and the Gold Cup as every day I wake up I have a different idea as to where he is going to run. I am certain he wiil stay three miles but whether he will stay three and a quarter miles is another thing, particularly as it looks like it is going to be fiercely run as there is lots of pace. He is in good order and worked well on Wednesday so I will sit down with the owners and see which way we want go. I just want to get him there in good order and it will be a last-minute call. Smad Place He ran in the Triumph Hurdle last year but summered extremely well before he threw a splint in October. He took some time after that and he did not make his debut until Ascot in January where he ran out a very impressive winner of a handicap hurdle. He went up in the weights for that and then went back to Ascot a couple of weeks ago and just failed to give Donald McCain's winner 29 pounds and that was a smashing run.He has been raised again so I can't really see him winning a Coral Cup so If he goes to Cheltenham it will be for the Ladbrokes World Hurdle. It will be his first time at three miles but he is probably crying out for a step up in trip. My one slight concern would be if the ground was fast and Timeform have said that if he runs to his Ascot form he would have been third in the last three World Hurdles, so he is likely to take his chance. But I want to mind him a little bit as he will be a high-class novice chaser next season. Midnight Appeal He has only come into the Cheltenham team last week and goes for the Kim Muir. He was an impressive winner at Sandown and it is quite remarkable as he was never really sighted in a hurdle race but has won five out of eight over fences and placed on every other occasion. He wore blinkers at Sandown and that seemed to transform him as he jumped and travelled very smoothly. He is another who won't mind decent ground and will be ridden by Robbie Henderson. Grumeti He goes for the Triumph Hurdle and won at Kempton Saturday. I was not sure whether to give him another run before Cheltenham but he was in such good form at home. It was good for Choc Thornton to get a feel of him on the track. We decided to take on the older horses rather than run in the Adonis and he jumped extremely fluently - he has done very little wrong and we are extremely pleased with him. I think has improved since his run against Pearl Swan at Cheltenham and that bit of match practice at the weekend will have done him no harm. I think that Grumeti and Pearl Swan are the two best juveniles we have seen - my horse has gears and is in the Penzance mould. Balder Success Will also run in the Triumph Hurdle but is a different type to Grumeti and we have loved him from day one. He started off at Plumpton and won easily - he then stepped up to Ascot where the race cut up and it did not tell us a great deal again. Then we went back to Ascot a fortnight ago and I hoped he would win but he routed them. He is very straightforward to train, has done all his winning on soft ground and handles that extremely well although I think he will go on better ground. He is not the normal type of Triumph horse that I have as he has not come off the Flat and we spent most of the season thinking he might lack a bit of match practice. He is such a straightforward horse and the way he has progressed, he deserves to take his chance. Raya Star Has enjoyed a very successful season and won first time out at Wetherby before finishing third behind Celestial Halo at Newbury. He then won the valuable Ladbroke Hurdle at Ascot before running another sound race in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury. He keeps creeping up the weights and only has the one entry in the County Hurdle. I think the stiff track at Cheltenham will help him and hopefully there will be a strong pace which will suit him. Lovcen He bounced back to form after falling at Doncaster in a handicap at Wincanton last time and has gone up 12 pounds for that. He is one of the favourites for the Martin Pipe but he will almost certainly run in the Albert Bartlett. He probably wants three miles. Kumbeshwar He is a good, tough horse and was second in the Fred Winter last year under top weight. He has been running well over fences but was clearly not good enough for an Arkle so we took him out of that He has entries in three races and I mightjust pop the blinkers on him for the Grand Annual. It looks like a race that will be dominated by novices - he has a nice weight at the moment so I hope that Nicky Henderson runs the top one French Opera. Sir Harry Ormesher He is in the Martin Pipe and Coral Cup and runs at Doncaster on Saturday so depending how he got on will determine whether he takes his chance. He comes to himself in the spring when the ground dries up. Valdez He is my one entry in the bumper and he goes to Newbury this weekend. Again we will see how he gets on before deciding on Cheltenham.

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Re: Trainers views on their Cheltenham horses Nicky Henderson Lyvius Lyvius went to Kelso and won and now he goes to Newbury where we will find out if he is good enough for the JCB Triumph Hurdle. I like him but in fairness we have been a bit short on juveniles this season and it looks as if Alan King has got them all! Simonsig You are all going to say where is Simonsig going and he worked very well on Tuesday morning. I had a long chat with his owner Ronnie Bartlett - Barry Geraghty is coming down to school him on Friday and then work on Saturday so we will try and make a decision which race he goes for at the Festival after that. Ronnie was flicking from the Supreme Novices' to the Neptune Investment and at two in the morning I am going two miles and at four I am going two and a half. It is nothing to do with the opposition it is simply what is his trip? It is hard to get away from the pace and speed he has shown as he is a hugely talented horse. He is very, very well and worked great on Tuesday. He had to sit in behind two horses at Kelso as he has that speed to go past anything and would win on the Flat. You can't believe he won't stay though as he won a point-to-point and his bumper was over 2m2f. He just has so much speed for a horse that does stay. Bobs Worth He is doing alright and he goes for the RSA Chase. Take Grands Crus out and it is very open . Amazingly, he looks ten times better than he did before the Reynoldstown. Yogi Breisner will be down next Wednesday for his usual Long Run session and we want him to have a look at this horse as he jumped out to the left at Ascot. He should be better suited going left-handed at Cheltenham and he won around the track last year. The breathing operation he had knocked him back a little bit and if you had seen him three weeks before the Reynoldstown I didn't think I was going to get anywhere with him. He looks great now. Darlan He has done great as that was a horrible fall at Newbury. He schooled on Friday and you would not know anything has happened. So for a five-year-old to come out and just put that fall in the back of his mind, and do what he does naturally, was really admirable. I don't know what would have happened at Newbury but AP (McCoy) said at some point in the race that he is a Supreme Novices' horse and that is the race he goes for. He has not worked with Simonsig and you would just not do that as they are two completely different horses. Darlan is a good horse at home but Simonsig is exceptional and if you tried to find out here what is going to happen at Cheltenham at home you would not have a runner as you would ruin every horse in the yard. Darlan is a lovely horse and will better in a year's time. Long Run He is in good form and has come out of Newbury well. He did is first little piece of work on Tuesday and will have one session with Yogi Breisner next week and will not see a fence between now and then. He will wear earplugs in the paddock but not in the Gold Cup - that was what we did at Newbury in the Betfair Denman Chase. It will just take the parade out of the equation and then he will have a rush of adrenalin. I don't think there is any doubt that this is a different Kauto Star than we were playing with last year and we were two-love up after that. It is now two-two so it is going to be a very interesting battle so let's hope it is another great race like last year. It is building up like that again and there is a lot to play for - there is not much between them but I do believe Kauto has to be a better horse this season. Everyone was baying for his retirement last year and the only thing I can say is a I wish Paul (Nicholls) had listened and life would be a lot easier! We were only just behind him at Kempton and if he had really winged the last then that could have got it down to a length, so we are not that far apart. We started the year at Haydock behind Kauto Star where Ruby (Walsh) injected this huge burst of speed down the back straight where the turbo kicked in and then did the same thing at Kempton. I don't know if he will do that at Cheltenham but it is a different track to be doing it on as in a Gold Cup you tend to wind up the pace. If he is going to head for home a long way out then he has another two and half furlongs to go up a hill and that may be harder for Kauto Star and easier for Long Run. Sam Waley-Cohen and Long Run get on really well together and I always will have total confidence in the horse and Sam riding him. They got into a nice rhythm at Newbury and really looked good but you did not have Kauto hammering that pace on. I would just like a good honest gallop, let Sam get into a nice rhythm and have a nice time - if he enjoys it, the horse will enjoy it and so will I. Finian's Rainbow He has been very different this year as his whole life last season was gung-ho. It was get out and beat them up and that was what happened at Cheltenham when he tried to make all in the Arkle so I was trying to avoid that. He has been very relaxed in his races and has been going the right way all season. His win at Kempton was in a funny sort of race while he looked to have come and won at Ascot against Somersby. We can learn from that, he will come on for it and he is in good form. Oscar Whisky A lot of people ask whether I wish he was still in the Champion Hurdle and I say no. Owner Dai (Walters) and I have talked about it long enough and said we always wanted to take a look at three miles as he stays two and a half so well. So we are going to try the impossible and take on Big Buck's, who will be very hard to beat but Oscar Whisky is in great form. We will see what happens but he will go over fences next year. We have got to find out what his trip is and it is quite unusual to go into a race like the World Hurdle untried over the distance. The only other way to do it was to test Big Buck's before this and have taken him on at Cheltenham but we went the two and a half mile route. I have always said I wish there was a Ryanair Hurdle as that would be very handy. I don't know what the chances of beating Big Buck's are. I think we have a great chance of being there at the last to have a fight with him. Big Buck's will tough it out and will be very hard to get by but this horse will have some speed if he has got the stamina. He would have as good a chance as any horse that has taken him on Big Buck's for a while. If you compare Punchestowns with Oscar Whisky then I think we have got a chance at Cheltenham. Burton Port He has been in really good form all year and ran a great race behind Long Run in the Denman Chase at Newbury. He was getting 10lbs so he has got to improve - but there is improvement and we have got to pray for no dreaded bounce. Nobody can explain it or tell me why it happens and Burton Port must be the horse you'd worry about it for at Cheltenham. But he looks fantastic and always does but is not a flash horse. He had all that time off and this year his work in the lead-up to Newbury was much superior to anything in the build up to his whole novice chase campaign. I don't know why, he just seems to have improved at home and that was a very good run at Newbury. So it is the Gold Cup that is his number one priority and where we are going God willing. He looks tremendous. Binocular He is in very good form. We were going to Newbury for a gallop as I thought he might need it but we ended up going to Wincanton for the Kingwell Hurdle and ended up looking like he didn't need any of it! He certainly won't be having any more gallops and we don't need to do too much more with him.He looks slick and happy and enjoyed that the other day at Wincanton but you still have a problem beating Hurricane Fly. I thought we would be going into the Champion Hurdle with three runners along with Spirit Son and Grandouet but it shows how fickle this game is. So we are down to one but with what we saw at Wincanton maybe one will do. I know he is not everyone's favourite but I love him and he is pretty unlucky not to have had a higher Cheltenham profile as I thought he may have won three Champion Hurdles by now. But life has not been easy for him - or me - and consequently he deserves to have a right shot at it this year. If Wincanton is anything to go by, then he is coming into the Festival in real good shape. Sprinter Sacre Everyone has their views on him but he is the most lovely horse. Some say he won't come up the hill and Colin Tizzard says Cue Card will go too fast for him so we will just do our own thing - they can go as fast as they like! There are two reasons why we think he will come up the hill - firstly he is must stronger horse this season than last, and secondly AP McCoy said after the Supreme Novices' Hurdle that he ought to have his wind done. He is great to watch over his fences and we just have to hope we can keep it as accurate and spectacular as he has been. Cheltenham is more testing than Doncaster, Kempton and Newbury but I don't think that ought to worry him. He has beaten Peddlers Cross but I am inclined to go along with Donald (McCain) who believes he was not right as we sailed past him at the first fence and that was that. The race told us nothing. But what has been amazing in all his three runs this season are the times as they have been staggering. It was a course record at Newbury while on both days at Kempton and Doncaster, when races were being run in 20 seconds over standard, he was going around in levels - and on his own and not coming off the bridle. He seems to get around pretty quickly and I am not sure how many horses can go as fast as that. His jumping is his biggest weapon and I felt sorry for French Opera at Newbury last time. He was going along merrily in front at Newbury then this great big black aeroplane came sailing past him down the back straight and that was that. He will make three lengths at each fence. Riverside Theatre He is not a huge heavy horse so he was probably pretty fit ahead of his comeback win in the Ascot Chase. You would like to think there is a bit of improvement in him. He goes to the Ryanair and we are in exactly the same place as we were last year as he had won at Ascot. Some people think he does not like Cheltenham but I hope they are wrong - it is only because he ran in the Arkle and got completely outpaced. He is a lot sharper now. This day last year he was exactly where he is now - in great form - but then suffered a non-displaced stress fracture of the pelvis. He was out of training for six months but I would be extremely disappointed if he bounced although we have been mindful about what we have done with him since Ascot, which is not a lot. I have never been tempted to try the Gold Cup route with him despite a second in the King George. As you saw at Ascot, he is pretty sharp and the Ryanair is where he belongs although we would like to come back to the King George in December