Saldier

Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham,

10th March (7/1 generally)

The Champion Hurdle picture is in a state of volatility at present, but Saldier’s claims are solid.

Willie Mullins’ horse was a high-class juvenile hurdler, he won the Grade 1 champion four-year-olds’ hurdle at the Punchestown Festival in 2018, and he was in the process of running a big race in the Grade 3 FisheryLane Hurdle at Naas on his debut last season, when he came down at the last.

It looked like he was going better than Espoir D’Allen when he got the final flight wrong, and last March Espoir D’Allen was one of the most impressive winners of the Champion Hurdle that we have seen in years.

Saldier didn’t race again last season, he broke his nose quite badly in that fall and his trainer gave him time to recover, but he returned in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown last month and ran out an impressive winner, leaving his stable companions Klassical Dream and Sharjah in his wake.

The Soldier Hollow gelding is only five, rising six, and he has raced just six times over hurdles, so he has the potential to improve. He is skipping the Christmas festivals, but hopefully he will be back soon, hopefully in time for the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown in February.

A Plus Tard

Ryanair Chase, Cheltenham, 12th March

(16/1 generally)

A Plus Tard was a seriously impressive winner of the Close Brothers Chase at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival.

So the Close Brothers Chase is a handicap, and A Plus Tard was racing off a mark of 144, but he travelled like the most likely winner from a long way out, and he careered away from his rivals. He was well beaten by Delta Work at the Punchestown Festival next time, but that was at the end of the season over three miles and going right-handed. The balance of his form tells you that he is better going left. Also, it is probable that two and a half miles is his trip more than three miles. He ran well in the Fortria Chase over two miles on his debut this season, when he got to within three lengths of Ballyoisin, with subsequent John Durkan Chase runner-up Hardline 11 lengths back in third. He raced that day as if a greater test of stamina would suit him better, and the test that the Ryanair Chase should present - where he put up the best performance of his career to date - could be close to optimal.

Livelovelaugh

Topham Chase, Aintree,

3rd April (No odds)

Livelovelaugh, famously, was the horse that Ruby Walsh was supposed to ride in the Guinness Handicap Chase at the Punchestown Festival last May, an hour after he won the Punchestown Gold Cup on Kemboy and announced his immediate retirement.

Willie Mullins’ horse put up a good performance at Punchestown too under David Mullins to finish second to O O Seven, and he had run really well for a long way a month earlier in the Grand National.

His stamina for four and a quarter miles was unproven going into the Grand National, and he ultimately came up short, but he travelled well for a long way, and he took really well to the Aintree fences. He was still on the bridle racing to the home turn before he tired.

The Topham Chase is run over the Grand National fences, but it is run over two miles and five furlongs, a trip that should be much more suitable for Livelovelaugh, the trip over which he finished second to Whisperinthebreeze in the Leopardstown Chase last February.

It would be an ideal target for Susannah Ricci’s horse. He will be 10 next week, but horses aged in double figures have won five of the last 11 renewals of the Topham.

Delta Work

Gold Cup, Cheltenham, 13th March

(20/1 generally)

Delta Work didn’t really have the run of the race in the RSA Chase at Cheltenham last March, yet he still stayed on well to finish third, just two lengths behind the winner Topofthegame.

Then he went to Punchestown and he was seriously impressive in winning the Grade 1 Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase.

Gordon Elliott’s horse was one of the top staying novice chasers in training last season, winning three Grade 1 contests.

He was beaten in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal on his return this term, but he is usually not at his best on his seasonal debut – he wasn’t impressive in winning his beginners’ chase at that Down Royal meeting on his first outing last season – and there were excuses for him that day.

He should be able to put that run behind him now.

He is only six and he has raced just six times over fences, so he still has lots of potential to progress as a staying chaser.

And he won the Pertemps Final in 2018, so we know that he can operate under Cheltenham Festival conditions.

Powerful Breeze

1000 Guineas, Newmarket, 1st May (10/1 generally)

Powerful Breeze belied odds of 20/1 when winning on her racecourse debut at Newmarket last August, and she followed up by landing the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting. She might have landed the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile too had she enjoyed a better hop of the ball.

She lost ground at the start, but she made her ground nicely on the near side on the run to the two-furlong marker. She hit the front a furlong and a half out and looked by far the most likely winner when she moved on inside the final furlong, at which point she traded at 1.12 in-running. But she was just mugged close home by Quadrilateral, who stayed on strongly on the far side. She was coming back at the winner at the end.

Hugo Palmer’s filly is almost twice the price that Quadrilateral is for next year’s 1000 Guineas, and that may under-rate her prospects of winning the race.