The race has all the makings of a cracker, with recently operated-on Marlborough facing a test which will tell us a lot in respect of his Cheltenham Gold Cup chances.
It's nice to be able to drop a few names in your way through racing life, and just back from a splendid junket in the South of France - courtesy of the Cheltenham executive- - I can report that Tempo D'Or (1.40) is spot on for tomorrow's Wragge & Co Finesse Juvenile Novices Hurdle at the Prestbury Park course.
Visiting the 70-strong stable of Tempo D'Or's trainer Guillaume Macaire, near the mouth of the river Gironde, was to experience a master at work. His training methods are unusually tough, with some of his horses jumping 40 hurdles in a morning's workout, and Tempo D'Or looked as hard as nails.
Tempo D'Or's stablemate Jair Du Cochet took this race with astonishing ease last year, and the former won the Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow in December, an event which Jair Du Cochet had taken 12 months before.
Macaire, a former battery salesman, will also be sending over a strong side for the March Festival.
Pipe and McCoy can be on the mark again with Rodock (3.25) in the Byrne Bros Cleeve Hurdle. A ready winner at Haydock last Saturday, Rodock trampled all over the favourite, The French Furze, to score by a long-looking 11 lengths.
Rodock is known as a character who likes to get on with it, and McCoy reported: "Winning a race like this will get his confidence back, as he is a headstrong sort."
I've got to stick to Moor Lane (2.30) to win the Great Yorkshire Chase at Doncaster. When you consider that Ian Balding's charge had Gold Cup hope Looks Like Trouble floundering in his wake in his novice chaser days, it is obvious that he has the class for the job.
Cutting a tendon at Kempton and sitting racing out for two years has not done his career too many favours, but his win at Newbury last time showed he was almost back to his best. With Norman Williamson unavailable, Barry Fenton gets the ride.
