DUTY NOW RANKS AS THE FASTEST JUVENILE HURDLER

DUTY (39) had some decent form on the flat, but he's proving to be a whole lot better over hurdles. He won recently by a wide margin in decent time and improved on that to take a Grade 3 event at Fairyhouse last Saturday. I rated his win the fastest by a juvenile hurdler all season and a tad faster than the average Triumph Hurdle winner.

Duty beat the useful Ermine Sea on firm ground on the flat, so a faster surface at Cheltenham should be no problem for him. This being so he looks over-priced at 16-1 for the big race.

WINS NOW LOOKS A GOOD CHASING PROSPECT

WINS NOW ( 36) won for the third time in three completed Irish starts when taking a novice hurdle that deserved Listed status at Punchestown. He'd have earned roughly the same speed rating if he'd stood up instead of falling at the last on his first Irish outing behind De Valira. This being so I suspect that Wins Now is not quite good enough for Cheltenham - at least over hurdles. However he is 17 hands high according to trainer Niall Madden. In addition he's already shown that he can jump fixed brush hurdles well. So I'd bet on Madden being right about Wins Now being likely to improve over fences. If he does then next year he will fully deserve his place at the big Festival meetings in the Spring.

YOUNG DESPERADO HAS A BIG SHOT IN THE JEWSON

YOUNG DESPERADO (38) won the Grade 2 Flyingbolt Novices' Chase in very decent time. On this run he may well end up being the fastest runner in the Jewson Novices' Chase at Cheltenham on my ratings. And he does look rather a good prospect for that race as he has now won both times he's run on really stiff tracks. The longer trip should pose no problems for him as he finished a close third over three miles on his only point to point start.

AMSTECOS RUNS BIG

AMSTECOS (36) ran a time that entitles him to a shot at pattern company when winning on his hurdling debut at Fairyhouse. He'd won bumpers by big margins on his other two most recent starts and is clearly useful. His trainer says he's a chasing sort that needs cut in the ground and will improve over further than the two miles of this race. This suggests that he's a very serious horse because it would only take a small amount of improvement to put Amstecos bang there with the very best novice hurdlers.

SWEET KILN DOES IT AGAIN

I sometimes think that if you gave James Bowe a Shetland pony he'd turn it into a smart, front-running staying hurdler that loves soft ground. SWEET KILN (39) is his stable's latest standard bearer and she fits this description perfectly. Well perhaps not perfectly because she showed when taking the Grade 3 Boyne Hurdle at Navan that she doesn't have to lead all the way to score. She simply outstayed her rivals in the closing stages to grind out another wide margin win.

As I mentioned before, Sweet Kiln has shown steady improvement on my speed figures since her comeback, running faster with each successive start. The improvement ended in the Boyne Hurdle as she simply replicated her last speed rating. But that still makes her fast enough to be a threat to pretty much any staying hurdler on soft ground.

BEEF IS STILL TOUGH IN A SMALL FIELD

BEEF OR SALMON (40) added to his amazing record in small fields on soft ground when getting up late to take the Hennessy. He didn’t run as fast as he has before but he’s clearly still very hard to get by in fields of eight or less when there’s cut in the ground. Runner-up THE LISTENER (40) again failed to earn a proper Grade 1 speed rating, and I’m inclined to think he never will.

Beef Or Salmon will no doubt get beaten in a big field in the Gold Cup. He’ll be very interesting if he encounters a suitably small field thereafter at Aintree or Punchestown though.

The other horse to take out of the race has to be HI CLOY who failed to stay the three miles in soft ground. As I’ve mentioned before, I think Hi Cloy is a stuffy horse who always needs his first two runs of the season. I also think he’s now specially targeted at the big Grade 1 prizes. He’s won four of the last five Grade 1 chases he’s contested at less than three miles following his first two runs of the season, and I reckon he’ll rack up another Grade 1 win before the season is over.

HEADS ONTHE GROUND LOOKING VERY INTERESTING FOR CHELTENHAM

HEADS ONTHE GROUND (38) ran a seriously fast time to beat a strong field over the Banks course at Cheltenham. I rated this an improved effort on his close third to stablemate Spot Thedifference and Plum’Tee over the Cross Country course at Cheltenham in December.

It’s worth bearing in mind that horses tend to improve as they gain experience of these unusual Cross Country courses. So it makes perfect sense that Heads Onthe Ground should do so on his third try.

Spot Thedifference and Plum’Tee both have masses of experience of Cross Country courses. They’re undoubtedly very smart and will likely be the favourites at the Cheltenham Festival. But I’ll be expecting Heads Onthe ground to beat both of them on this run.

BIEN BRONZE AND ALABAMA BANJO WORTH FOLLOWING

BIEN BRONZE (36) and ALABAMA BANJO (36) pulled well clear of a big field to fight out the finish of a Fairyhouse maiden hurdle run in fast time last Saturday. Both are lightly-raced horses that are improving and worth following.