Paul Townend Cheltenham Festival Blog: Day One Preview
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Ladbrokes presents its first Paul Townend Cheltenham Festival Blog, with the leading jockey sharing his insight into the first day of action.
Tullyhill is a high-class bumper horse. His jumping has improved a lot with every run and I think he is a very good horse. He was better the second time out at Naas and then better again at Punchestown. I actually think he has improved again, and a competitive race like this will help him jump. Firefox is on a bit of a retrieval mission after after getting beaten at Naas in January. Mystical Power is obviously a very well-bred horse and has done nothing wrong on the track. I think he will take a lot of beating. Slade Steel was runner-up to Ballyburn at Leopardstown. There is a lot of depth in this race. I am looking forward to riding Tullyhill, I think he can build on what he has done so far and I hope for a big ride.
I ride the tricky Gaelic Warrior in the Arkle. I suppose there isn’t a stand out horse in this race but it is very competitive. Found A Fifty isn’t getting the credit he deserves for his G1 win at Christmas and was then just narrowly touched off by Il Etait Temps in the G1 at the Dublin Racing Festival so that form is closely interlinked. Gaelic Warrior beat Il Etait Temps very well at Christmas at Limerick albeit over further. His record around Cheltenham isn’t terrible but he hasn’t won here yet so I am hoping it is third time lucky for him. Hunters Yarn is unexposed. He was a faller when he was going to win well first time out but made up for that the second day. He is high-class horse but maybe lacks a bit of experience in a race as competitive as this. Quilixios is another one you have to give a shout out to. He won very well at Naas and looked really back to himself. He’s another one that had to leave a poor run behind at Punchestown. That was over three miles and he looks better over two miles. As I said, I am hoping my horse can make it third time lucky. He underperformed at the Dublin Racing Festival but I am willing to put a lime through that.
With the absence of Constitution Hill, this looks a lot easier of a task. Irish Point has been rerouted here and he is a progressive horse, and it’s worth a shot dropping him back in trip here when connections have Teahupoo in the Stayers’ Hurdle. Nicky Henderson has supplemented Iberico Lord for this race and he won very well at Newbury in that big handicap. However, State Man sets the standard on ratings and hopefully he can go one better than he did in the race last year. He is my best ride of the day.
Lossiemouth was very impressive at Cheltenham last year. She steps up in trip here but that isn’t a concern for me. She only had the one start this year but she is a very good juvenile and showed us the last day that she has improved again. Ashroe Diamond will be no pushover here. She won well at Doncaster and is a G1 winning novice mare herself. Love Envoi was second to us the last day, while Tellmesomethinggirl has good course form…so we will see. I wouldn’t swap Lossiemouth for anything in the race.
All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.
