Hopefully followers took notice of my post on the 14th March, and backed Appreciate It in the 1.20 at Cheltenham today. He was a very easy winner under Paul Townend.

Looking ahead to the rest of today at Newcastle tonight Streak Lightning 6.45 is my idea of the winner in the 7f handicap. He won well last time, and was strong at the line that day.

In France at Chantilly, the 1.50 has Juan Equain in it, unlucky not to win last time, when I thought his rider gave him no help, Demuro rides again today, and if he gets a more positive ride, he should win.

Looking at todays race meetings. With Bangor already called off, Warwick in the UK is the sole jump meeting. The last race on the card at 5.22 is a competitive ‘bumper event’, with two previous winners Fame and Concrete and Mucho Mas trying to defy penalties, both won well on debut. High Worth is an unraced Nicky Henderson horse, who could be anything, Piaf Bubbles has had one run already at Plumpton, a race that has turned out quite well, so lots of potential, some decent types, I’ve not had a bet in it, but will watch with interest.

In France at Toulouse the 5.45 on the turf has some nice types lining up. Gregolimo heads the market at around 7/4. If he can transfer his recent useful form from the all weather- to the grass, he has a solid chance of winning this event. Mothill is his likely main rival.

A good week ahead, with Cheltenham starting on Tuesday. At 1.20 Appreciate It could get the strong Irish team from Willie Mullins off to a good start on the opening day, he has been very impressive over timber, and has a high cruising speed, which should enable him to travel kindly,already a winner of a bumper over 20 furlongs, and a 3 mile point to point. His stamina is not in doubt for the latter stages, he is short in the betting, but will be very hard to beat.

After a few weeks break, back today with hopefully a horse for my followers to back in a couple of races today, both well worth a look. All the recent racing news has been focused mainly on Gordon Elliott and the awful picture of him sitting on a horse that had sadly died from a heart attack. It was in my opinion a moment of madness !

Clearly Gordon is a talented trainer, and has been one of the leading trainers in Ireland for quite a few years. I do not see in the short term what lies ahead for him, possibly he will get a ban, but nobody really knows yet.

On to todays racing, in France at Pornichet on the all weather track, Pierre Charles Boudot could be a jockey to follow. He has some really good rides. Keep Fire 2.05 was a running on 5th on debut last year on the turf. The race turned out to be a very good maiden, as the winner went on to be second in a Group 1 race and the second and third that day are useful winners since, so he is one of Boudot’s mounts worth a look at, currently around 2/1 with most firms.

In the UK at Taunton the ground is described as ‘good to soft’ which should be fine for Time To Tinker 1.55, I think he has a solid chance of getting off the mark for trainer Paul Nicholls.

More soon.