“Obviously, the most exciting horse we have” Does Cheltenham glory beckon? ⭐

Alex Hales is a trainer who continues to fly under the radar. Since February 2020, the yard have two Grade 2 winners and a Grade 3 scorer, bidding for another Grade 2 winner on Saturday afternoon at Cheltenham.

This same horse was unfortunate not to win a Grade 2 at Newbury last month, unseating two from home. His trainer subsequently said, “it was a long ride home that night as we had effectively thrown away a Grade 2.”

Cheltenham is one of three cards to host the ITV Racing cameras on Saturday afternoon. Musselburgh and Tramore are also live on the channel, the last named seeing the return to action of 2020 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo.

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1.25 Cheltenham – Paddy Power Novices’ Chase

Millers Bank is the horse in question, a horse who improved massively last season. A pair of handicap wins at Kempton and Newbury marked him down as a decent type. It was not until he went to the Grand National meeting at Aintree though that he truly came of age.

A tilt at the Aintree Hurdle looked ambitious on paper and he was duly sent off at 80/1. Despite that he ran a monster of a race to finish third to Abracadabras and Buzz, only beaten three and a half lengths by the winner on his first try in Grade 1 company.

Chasing looked his game even at that stage so it was no surprise to see him off the mark with ease at Huntingdon. That was his debut over the bigger obstacles. Last time is not the ideal prep to head to Cheltenham, a track that takes plenty of jumping. He has a lot of class, however, so it would not be a surprise if their stable star is capable of winning at this level.

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