With no football match at Ipswich and a good weather forecast it was decided to get up early and hit the road to Cheltenham. It was the first time I had been there for a number of years and my Best Mate and I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent days racing. Aigle d'Or won the first in the colours of J.P.McManus and looks a good novice hurdler in the making. No doubt will be Festival bound. Arturio won the Timeform Novices Handicap Chase for Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh, while Maljimar was a very popular winner of the betchronicle.com Trophy Chase for trainer Nick Williams and jockey Daryl Jacob. The feature race of the day was the £100,000 Letheby and Christopher Chase run over 3 miles one furlong. Paddy Brennan rode a patient race on Knowhere allowing the more fancied horses to take each other on from the off and then outstay them up that Cheltenham hill. Picture shows him outstaying Our Vic who looked all over the winner jumping the last fence. Franchoek went off at slight odds on for the Wragge & Co Juvenile Novices Hurdle and at this stage looks a worthy favourite for the Triumph Hurdle after storming up the Cheltenham hill. This was another winner for J.P.McManus. For me the most enjoyable race of the day was seeing Inglis Drever win the Byrne Group Cleeve Hurdle from the younger contender Blazing Bailey. Richard Johnson came in for the ride and rode his usual strong finish to galvanise Inglis Drever up the hill. There was a nice touch during the afternoon when all the jockeys came out of the weighing room to wish Ollie McPhail all the best in his retirement from race riding. The countdown to the Festival continues with just under six weeks to go. I am sure we saw a couple of Festival winners last Saturday in Franchoek and Inglis Drever. Lets hope they stay free from injury. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

I watched recordings from my Sky+ box of BBC's coverage of four of the races from Ascot on the 19th January and it seemed the ground was once again putting a premium on stamina. Twist Magic looked a different horse on the softish ground and if the rains continue might not even run at Cheltenham in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. All this rain, abandoned meetings and heavy ground when racing does go ahead, takes me back to Cheltenham in 1969 when What A Myth ridden by Paul Kelleway outstayed everything else in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The ground was the deciding factor that day and at twelve years old he became the oldest horse to win the race for eighteen years. I first went to Cheltenham in 1963, the year Mill House won the Gold Cup. There must have been about seven of us who first started the pilgrimage to Cheltenham for the three days as it was then. It was great fun to get away with your mates and talk nothing but racing for the three days. I was able to keep up the pilgrimage through the 1960's and 1970's and I saw some great horses win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the greatest of course being Arkle. In 1969 my dear friend Steve joined us on our pilgrimage to Cheltenham. We had met while working for a Ford Main Dealer which was controlled by an old fashioned guvnor by the name of Dicky May. Steve and I had great respect for him and we have many happy memories of working there. It so happened that there was a Dicky May running in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. We were staying at a hotel on Cleeve Hill and it was full of racing folk which included two older well to do ladies who had tickets for members for the three days. They use to join us in the bar after dinner for a drink or two. We started to spin the story that Dicky May was a good thing for the Gold Cup. By the time we went to bed on the Wednesday evening we were beginning to believe the story ourselves. Come the race on the Thursday a saver had been placed on Dickie May. All was going well until the commentator announced that Dickie May had come down at the eighth fence. The groan from the stands was immense and we could not stop laughing. The ladies had undoubtingly spread the word around members or was the groan for The Laird who was unfortunately brought down by Dickie May. As the Irish would say it was a great craic and brings back more happy memories. With the mud flying What A Myth stormed up the Cheltenham hill for a memorable win. We went back to the same hotel in 1970 hoping to see the ladies again. Unfortunately the owner told us they had tried to get in but by the time they rang he was full. It saved us spinning a story about L'Escargot (the snail) who won at 33/1! Kinloch Brae was an expensive faller for the blogger. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

There are nine weeks to go for what most National Hunt enthusiasts would call the Main Event, that is the Cheltenham Festival. In my opinion these are the best four days racing in the world and they commence on Tuesday 11th March in the Cotswolds. All training plans are geared towards Cheltenham in March and I would like a fiver for the number of times recently I have heard a trainer state " he will have one more run before Cheltenham". Paul Nicholls is the lucky trainer who has the favourite and second favourite for the main race of the meeting the Cheltenham Gold Cup. They are Kauto Star and Denman who were both very impressive in their races over the Christmas period. They are the two best chasers in training but only one of them can win the Gold Cup. In the sixties Tom Dreaper in Ireland had the two best chasers around in Arkle and Flyingbolt, but they never met in racecourse competition. In 1964, 1965, and 1966 I was at Cheltenham to see Arkle win his three Gold Cups while Flyingbolt won the Gloucester Hurdle, the Cotswold Chase (now the Akle Challenge Trophy) and the Two Mile Champion Chase in successive years while also finishing third in the Champion Hurdle a day after winning the Two Mile Champion Chase. He went on to win the Irish Grand National under top weight that season. Denman seems to improve with every race and we might not have seen the best of him yet. The bookmakers seem to think the race rests between him and Kauto Star so the each way punter will be looking for a bit of value. If only we knew what the weather and the going will be like in nine weeks time. If it came up really heavy as it was in 1989 when Desert Orchid won the Gold Cup where a huge premium was put on stamina, ability to act on the going and stay at least three and half miles, then Halcon Genelardis could be an interesting contender. He was very impressive in the Welsh National when runner-up to Miko De Beauchene endevouring to give him lumps of weight. Twist Magic is ante-post favourite for the Two Mile Champion Chase and if he wins at Ascot on the 19th January he will shorten in the betting even more. Another horse from the Paul Nicholls yard. The Champion Hurdle looks a very open race at the moment. In the World Hurdle Inglis Drever is ante-post favourite to repeat his win of last year. Blazing Bailey might give him more to do this year. As we know from past years there are no such things as certainties in racing and I am sure we will be in for a few surprises come March at Cheltenham. Lets hope all the horses stay clear of injury beforehand. Heres counting down. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".