Racing tips: Paisley Park can land his fourth Cleeve Hurdle in a row

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Zambella was made to look extremely ordinary in the Listed Mares' race at Huntingdon yesterday. 

Jeremy's Flame smoked them and was clearly a horse who was much better than the rest. I think the winner enjoyed the run of the race with the strong pace battle between three horses and she picked up the pieces, as well as Zambella's jumping being quite bad for the most part. However, I think the correct horse won and it will be interesting to see where she goes next.

Cheltenham 12:10

A horse who I've been begging to go up in trip is DATSALRIGHTGINO, so the fact Jamie Snowden has finally listened makes him of major interest today at a decent price.

This is a tough race, especially considering Datsalrightgino will be carrying one of the top weights in the race, but still, I think he has the class to win off his current handicap mark of 138.

His best work over 2m over fences always comes in the final furlong where he often catches the eye, running on strongly, which is why I've felt he needed a longer trip. I don't know why it's taken connections this long to make the move up to 2m 4f, but we're here now, so hopefully, he runs a big race.

He has shown some decent form this season over fences, including a win, a runner-up spot to Boothill and then a 3rd placed finish at Newbury when making up a lot of late ground.

Cheltenham 12:40

X-Country chases are one of my favourite types of races of the jumps season. I love how unique it is and the different types of fences/hurdles they take around the circuit.

I think this is the first X-Country race that has taken place so far this season at Cheltenham as the ground has meant the races haven't taken place, so it will be interesting to see how this race pans out as you always get a couple of new faces to the X-Country game, who spring a surprise.

I'm going for an old face for this race, and a previous X-Country winner at the Cheltenham Festival in the shape of EASYSLAND. This horse was previously trained in France and was winning X-Country races over there before coming to Cheltenham and battering our horses. J P McManus obtained him and he won at the Cheltenham Festival, but his form has tailed off since, until last time out where I thought he looked like he was returning to form.

Most of his wins have come over the X-Country fences, and he looks like a horse who appreciates that kind of race, so it wasn't a great surprise to see him struggle for form over hurdles and fences when running for his current yard (Jonjo O'Neill), but his race at Cheltenham last time around was promising. He was up with the pace, jumping well and looked to be a big player before getting tired around the final bend. He's dropped down to a very low mark and runs in this race off a tiny weight, we know he handles the course and he'll be fine of the ground, and I think he shouldn't be underestimated.

Cheltenham 2:25

Time for a couple of short-priced fancies after a couple of EW selections in the earlier races…

PROTEKTORAT will be eyeing up the Gold Cup in March, but this race will be a lovely prep run for that goal in a couple of months time. He ran well in that race last year to finish 3rd, but he is still a very young horse who looked at the top of his game when landing the Haydock Betfair Chase in emphatic fashion. Granted, last year's Gold Cup winner didn't show up in the same level of form, but you can only beat what is in front of you and that's what he did, and he looked like an improved horse.

Dan Skelton is having a superb season and is really eyeing up the Trainer's championship. He knows that he has to win most of the big races he has a runner in to make it somewhat close, but in recent times he has been bang on with his horses and I think this race is his to lose.

You can see why some people will like last year's Grand National (Noble Yeats) winner for this, he'll stay the trip and power up the Cheltenham hill, but is his form really that good in comparison? He beat a couple of disappointing horses at Aintree, yes, he showed a crazy turn of foot, but Ahoy Senor looks like a shadow of his former self, so I think he will have to improve to win this.

Cheltenham 3:00

At the time of writing, PAISLEY PARK is above EVS and if that's the case by the time you see this, then surely that makes him a bet for Saturday.

This horse is head and shoulders clear of the rest of them in this race and should be around 1/2 in my opinion, so anything around EVS is seen to be as value.

I understand he is an older horse now and is quirky with the way he hits his flat spots, but this season so far has shown that he still retains his ability and if he runs anywhere near his recent runs he should demolish this field, who are simply not on the same level.

Dashel Drasher is a tough horse who will give it a good go, and be tough to pass, but he's surely not as good as Paisley. Gelino Bello doesn't interest me in the slightest, I don't rate his hurdles form from last year and his runs over fences this year don't particularly impress me either, he'll have to improve 10+lbs to get involved.

Also, something to note is that Paisley Park has won this race 3 years in a row, so you can call it his race.

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