The Champion Hurdle does not need dressing up. This year’s renewal looks deep, but the answer is still clear enough.The New Lion is the one to beat.There are solid cases for both Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead, and between them they bring the strongest recent Grade 1 form. Lossiemouth is the proven class act, a dual Cheltenham…

The 2.00 at Cheltenham is the Singer Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase, and this year’s running looks a straight fight between two class acts: Lulamba and Kopek Des Bordes.There are other good horses in the field, most notably Kargese, but this race should be decided by which of the front two handles the occasion best.…

The opening race of the Festival rarely lacks pace, pressure or hype, and this year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle looks no different. The Irish have depth, class and numbers on their side, but the market has this right: Old Park Star is the horse they all have to beat.That does not mean he is a giveaway…

This is not a race to get clever with. It is a modest Class 6 for three-year-olds over 1m4f, and most of the field are either badly exposed, limited, or still trying to prove they stay.In races like this, the safest angle is usually the horse that has already shown it can handle the trip…

This is not a race crying out for a wild swing. In a modest Class 6 for three-year-olds, Crimson Rambler is the one with the strongest case and he deserves to head the market.He comes here on the back of a tidy win at Southwell just five days ago, where the step up to a…

This 5f handicap at Wolverhampton does not look complicated. There is enough pace in the race, a few arrive in fair nick, and the one with the strongest overall case is Moulin Booj.The George Scott-trained six-year-old is a previous course-and-distance winner, is well drawn in stall 2, and shaped better than the bare result when…

This looks a proper little Class 4 handicap rather than a weak Monday night affair, and there are a few with perfectly fair claims. Even so, the race makes most appeal as a chance for Champion Again Ole to pick up where he left off.Roger Varian’s four-year-old is not the finished article yet and that…

The 6.00 at Wolverhampton is a small-field fillies’ novice, but there is still a clear shape to it and a clear one to beat.That filly is Oscar Nominee.She made a winning start over this course and distance 20 days ago and the bare form does not tell the full story. She had to come from…

This 0-60 apprentice handicap over 1m½f does not look a deep race, and the market has already latched on to the right pair. The key form is the course-and-distance contest here 10 days ago, where Pessoa beat Book Of Life by a neck, and it would be no surprise at all if those two dominate…