Cheltenham Countdown Continues

IT’S all systems go for the Cheltenham Festival with the main trial races now run for the jumps season’s biggest contests.

The action kicks off for four fabulous days from Tuesday, March 11, and Racing Ahead’s March edition will be packed with everything you need to know for the Festival. As you can see from the image above, we heavily featured the Festival in last year’s March issue.

The headline news from Cheltenham Trials Day was the comeback – and defeat – of four-times World Hurdle winner Big Buck’s. He had to settle for third place in the Cleeve Hurdle but will be back to fight for his title on Festival Thursday.

His trainer Paul Nicholls is far from concerned that his superstar was beaten just over a length in Saturday’s big race on the back of a 422-day absence. It may have been the end of his 18-race winning streak over hurdles but Nicholls is far from downbeat.

He said: “I am thrilled with him. He travelled with his old zest and jumped well – he just got a bit tired from the last. It is very testing ground.

“We could have easily took him out and saved him for another day but I was desperate to get a run into him before The Festival. It is second time he has been on grass since he last ran and I would have liked to have got another racecourse gallop into him. He has just got tired – that will improve him enormously. Obviously, we would have liked to have won but that will put him bang on for his next run when the ground won’t be as bad as that.”

Don’t miss the March edition of Racing Ahead. Order a print or digital subscription at www.racingahead.net.