"I rode him in a schooling race and he felt like an aeroplane"

It was good to see Brian Hughes extend his lead in the jockeys' title at Ayr on Saturday. The Con Man bounced back from his defeat at Ascot by winning the two and a half miles handicap hurdle, while Marown made it two out of two over hurdles with a nine and a half lengths win in the novice hurdle under a penalty. The latter looks a fine long-term prospects for Trevor Hemmings and Nicky Richards.

I attend my third and final Cheltenham Preview on Friday evening at the Club 100 outside Motherwell's football ground. For the third consecutive year, I was alongside one of my racing heroes Paul Carberry on the panel. Paul rode 14 Festival winners and he was particularly keen on one horse next week saying: "I rode him in a schooling race during the Autumn. He worked with Battleoverdoyen and Delta Work and beat them by twenty lengths. He felt like an aeroplane." The horse in question is revealed in the Cheltenham Festival Update, which will be emailed to clients on Sunday pm. 

A big thank you to leading owner Rich Ricci who told me the two horses he is most looking forward to seeing run next week.

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