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Disappointment was a feeling shared between Cheltenham goers yesterday, signalled by tutting and shakes of the head, as punters eyed up the first three runner race.

But for what the first race lacked in field size, it certainly didn’t lack in the performance department as KALIF DU BERLAIS turned up and put on a brilliant show.

He kicked the day off nicely and Prestbury Park again, showed why Cheltenham is the home of jumps racing.

Let’s dive in.

HEADINE ROUND UP

A PLACE IN MARCH

The Christmas period has been a successful one for Nicky Henderson, and that run continued at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day with LUCKY PLACE in the Relkeel Hurdle.

Having always shown promise, last season he tried to give a stone away to GOLDEN ACE at Taunton last season before he finished fourth in the Coral Cup when Henderson’s yard was under a cloud.

He was tipped up by Mick Fitzgerald as his Seven Barrows horse to follow at the start of this season and has only impressed since getting his season underway well by winning the Ascot Hurdle.

Yesterday was a real step up against raced fit and well practiced competition, but he did it well:

There are big hopes from within the LUCKY PLACE camp that he could be a Stayers’ Hurdle horse, and in what is quite an open division, you’d have to give him a chance.

Henderson said: “He's the kind of horse who's very hard to find. He wants to do it, play, jump and he seems to be progressing quite quickly as well. He creeps under the radar a little bit because he's just such a straightforward, honest horse and he's not flashy, but he gets it done. I think it's down to his natural strength, so we'll probably play to that.

"I think the Stayers' Hurdle is what we’ve been building up towards. I was thinking of the Long Walk Hurdle but this was really always the plan. Stamina has won it for him. You’d say the obvious thing to do is step him up in trip before then and the Cleeve Hurdle could be the answer to that. We can find out there if he stays."

We like this horse. He’s young, he’s progressive, he jumps well, and he has a nice page. He’ll be a lovely chaser next season. We know TEAHUPOO is a tough nut to crack in the division, but he’ll go to the race as an unraced horse, and this lad could catch him out.

Our race preview selection SALVER unfortunately fell at the last (why does it feel like all of Gary Moore’s fall at the last!?). He was behind the eventual winner at the time but there is a lot of ground between the last and the finish line and anything could have happened up that hill. If that fall hasn’t taken too much out of him, he’ll be one to follow when on bottomless ground.

BIT OF A DIVA

DIVA LUNA, the mare that Ben Pauling thinks so highly of, got off the mark over hurdles at the second time of asking, but was she as good as Racing X (and her trainer for that matter) would have you believe?

The money came for PIERROT JAGUEN late-on and DIVA LUNA actually drifted out to a backable 5/4, but the Grade 2 bumper winner made sure and she was on top in the end.

It was her first try at 2m4f and it came on soft ground, but she had to work hard for the win and both market price and her visually gritty performance suggests she’s not yet justified the high praise her trainer has offered up to those listening.

During the race, she steadied notably on the way to the last flight, and she won’t be able to get away with that in a hotter race going forward.

Pauling, as much as he was complimentary after, thought that she will need to step-up on her next few starts. He said: "That was better but nowhere near her best. I wanted to settle her in behind and take a lead but she's locked on to the first and that was that.

"It's just good to get her back in the winner's enclosure. She's very talented and I still think she's one of the best we've got. I need to see more than that to win a Mares' Novices' Hurdle but I think she'll find it."

With some nice horses in the division, notably MAUGHREEN, ANNO POWER, and JUBILEE ALPHA, she has the ability to be the best in the division, but she needs to show more.

CLEVER ENTRIES

So, THE JUKEBOX MAN is set to head straight to the Cheltenham Festival. That’s fine. Of course, you would love to see him out again before, perhaps something like the Hampton Novices’ Chase at Warwick, but keeping him fresh to go to Prestbury Park with a big chance is key and he’s going to have options.

Ben Pauling is likely to give him an entry for the Brown Advisory AND Arkle.

Yes, he has some degree of speed having won over 2m4f at Newbury, and the turn of foot he showed at Kempton was impressive, but he clearly is more of a three-miler. And yet, Pauling is floating up the idea of running against SIR GINO in the Arkle!

Mental or genius? One would think trying to take on a horse who has delivered one of if not the the best chasing debuts in history is crazy, but maybe Pauling is playing smart by entering him just in case SIR GINO falls ill and doesn’t line up.

He said: "I'll give him an entry in the Arkle and the Brown Advisory. If it came up bottomless or properly soft, I’d be tempted to look at two miles, but I must admit that was before I saw Sir Gino.

"I think he looks an exceptional talent at that trip and I think Nicky could have another Sprinter Sacre on his hands. With that in mind, would I take him on? I don’t know. We’ll give ourselves the option.

"I enjoyed seeing how relaxed The Jukebox Man was in behind runners at Kempton. There’s a few pundits saying they’d run him again before the festival, but I went to the Albert Bartlett from the Challow last year and there hasn’t been a moment during his chasing career when he’s looked like he needed practice."

Okay, look, he’s only thinking of the idea. If we’re being real, we think Pauling will do the right thing and send him to the Brown Advisory. A race with him, JANGO BAIE, DANCING CITY, BALLYBURN, IMPAIRE ET PASSE, and CHAMP KIELY could well be one of the races of the Festival! Beautiful.

RISK ON

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