Cheltenham Festival 2024: Who impressed @RoadCheltenham this week and could be festival bound come March?

We are absolutely delighted to welcome @RoadCheltenham to the Horseracing.net team and every week until the 2024 Cheltenham Festival the iconic X account will take a look back at the last seven days of racing and pick out those horses that could sparkle and those that could underperform at the iconic four-day National Hunt extravaganza in March...

It’s mid-November and the C word is everywhere. It’s plastered all over the papers, there’s extensive coverage on television and it’s trending daily on social media. No, not Christmas. C is for Cheltenham.

The Cheltenham November meeting is one of the highlights of the weekend and this year’s spectacle was no different, with a number of impressive performances at the home of jumps racing.

Throw in the inaugural Navan Racing Festival and you’ve got a festive feast of National Hunt action for fans. With the likes of Stage Star, Facile Vega and Jonbon in action, it was always going to be a weekend to savour.

Throughout the season I’ll be picking out some of the best performances of the week, with a view to the 2024 Cheltenham Festival. So, who caught my eye over the past seven days?

QUEENS GAMBLE was the first to play her hand, with new trainer Harry Derham not afraid to pit her against the geldings at Kempton Park. She won like an 8/13 shot should and Derham was delighted after admitting she wasn’t entirely wound up for the race.

Just 24 hours later, Mares Novices' Hurdle ante-post favourite DYSART ENOS made her debut over hurdles and visually she was very impressive. She probably didn’t beat much but you’d have to be taken with her turn of foot after the final hurdle.

She looks special and is one to very much look forward to.

The Willie Mullins-trained IT’S FOR ME got off the mark at Punchestown, with the Champion Bumper fifth winning what looked like a hot enough maiden hurdle. He sped clear of Gordon Elliott’s Caldwell Potter, with the 133-rated Ascending back in third. Given an RPR of 141 for that success, I’ll be keeping It’s For Me onside.

Homme Public won the Grade 2 Arkle Trial at Cheltenham but JPR ONE is the horse to take out of the race. The Joe Tizzard-trained gelding was three lengths clear and asserting when he fell at the final obstacle, much to the dismay of connections and punters. The Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices' Chase at Sandown Park was mentioned as a possible target.

Did we really learn anything from the Cross Country Handicap Chase? Other than the fact that the race is a much greater spectacle as a handicap than it is off level weights, I’d say probably not. DELTA WORK wouldn’t be for me now, especially with Gordon Elliott raving about CONFLATED and his schooling over the banks. MINELLA INDO is another who could turn up in March as well.

The biggest disappointment of the weekend for me was CAPTAIN TEAGUE. I expected the Paul Nicholls runner to prove too good for the field but Evan Williams and MINELLA MISSILE deserve plenty of credit. Time will tell but he could be very good and it was great to see an emotional owner Mrs Janet Davies celebrate her 100th winner in the ring.

IMPOSE TOI won the finale on Friday and he could still have wiggle room in his mark. He had a fair bit in hand for me and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nicky Henderson line up a nice handicap at some point in the spring. We all know how JP McManus loves a plot but let’s see what the handicapper does first.

It’ll be the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle or nothing for STELLAR STORY with regards to the 2024 Cheltenham Festival. He is a big brute of a horse who stays all day and you’d have to be impressed at how well he plugged on in gruelling conditions at Navan. Keep an eye on the second – LARGY HILL – for Willie Mullins. He will win races this season.

Can a British horse really win the Triumph Hurdle? BURDETT ROAD has found himself at the top of the market almost by default.

Taking nothing away from his performance on Saturday but I would be very surprised if there isn’t at least one juvenile at Closutton or Cullentra House that finishes ahead of him in March.

Paul Nicholls has had to deal with a bit of stick in recent times and it has been great to see the Ditcheat trainer winning at Cheltenham. He had two winners at the 2023 Festival and STAGE STAR followed up his Turners Novices' Chase success with victory in the Paddy Power Gold Cup.

The horse did incredibly well to stay on his feet after a final fence mishap but he stayed on stoutly to fend off NOTLONGTILMAY for the second time this year. That Turners form looks pretty hot now and the winner is a major player in the Ryanair Chase after earning a RPR of 171.

Another horse who could line up on Day 3 at the Cheltenham Festival is SPRINGWELL BAY, who won the Paddy Power Intermediate Handicap Hurdle. It was a great bit of placement from trainer Jonjo O’Neill and he has hinted at a dream of running in the Stayers' Hurdle. To be fair, the race is wide open and he has a progressive horse that is unexposed over a trip.

Over at Navan, BOB OLINGER beat Zanahiyr in a thrilling Lismullen Hurdle. It was brilliant to see the two-time Cheltenham Festival winner get his head in front but he’s impossible to trust from an ante-post perspective. The same could be said for CAPTAIN GUINNESS, who was far too good for Saint Roi and Dysart Dynamo.

FACILE VEGA was far from perfect on his chase debut but he still had enough in the tank to beat INTHEPOCKET and Saint Felicien. His jumping improved as the race went on and you’d have to be impressed at the way he accelerated clear after the last fence.

He’s my pick for the Arkle at this stage while Inthepocket would interest me if he went for the Turners.

CROKE PARK maintained his unbeaten record over hurdles and Elliott mentioned the Grade 1 Lawlor’s of Naas in January as his next port of call. Does he have the tactical speed for a Ballymore? Not for me. However, I could see him going close at Naas if the ground came up soft and it became an attritional battle up the hill.

As good as AMERICAN MIKE was, you’d have to be disappointed with FACT TO FILE. It was great to see American Mike jump with gusto and he asserted well after the last fence – it was a taking performance. Fact To File jumped well in the main but just didn’t seem to have the gears so I expect Mullins will step him up in trip sooner rather than later.

JONBON produced the performance of the weekend to dominate the Shloer Chase. It was one of those performances that you could go back and watch time and time again, making Graded horses in EDWARDSTONE, Nube Negra and Editeur Du Gite look like handicappers.

All roads lead to the Tingle Creek and (hopefully) a rematch with EL FABIOLO in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Festival. Meanwhile, Alan King is in two minds over whether to go for the Tingle Creek with Edwardstone or step him up in trip and go for the Peterborough Chase.

Last but not least, we have the Greatwood Hurdle. A few eyebrows were raised when Nico de Boinville chose IBERICO LORD over stablemate Luccia but he made the right call. The winner stormed up the Prestbury Park hill to win going away. LOOKAWAY ran a super race from the front and he could be one for a lucrative handicap in the spring.

Nicky Henderson has suggested that Luccia will be aimed at the Mares' Hurdle but for me she finds little for pressure and I’m not convinced she will stay the 2m4f trip. I think she’d be much more effective on a flat track and maybe Cheltenham isn’t for her.

Don’t sleep on NEMEAN LION either. I’d love to see him in a County Hurdle on the Friday at the Festival. A big field and better ground would be right up his street.

There’s no racing at Cheltenham this coming week but we do have the Betfair Chase at Haydock Park and the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown. I say, bring it on.