Late Cheltenham Clues After The Weekend

Paul Nicholls unleashed his leading Triumph Hurdle chance on Saturday at Kempton with French Exploit Solo taking the Grade Two Adonis Juvenile Hurdle by 14 lengths.

The four year old who was having his first ride for the yard headed over to England as a big prospect having had two hurdle runs over in France.

In October he finished second of 17 runners in tough conditions and in even worse ground he broke is duck next time out at Auteuil so he did come over to Britain with a slight reputation.

However, what he did on Saturday was something very special and it saw all bookmakers slash him from 16/1 into the 3/1 favourite.

One of the quirkier races at the festival is the Foxhunters Chase and Paul Nicholls holds leading claims in this contest aswell with the David Maxwell owned Bob And Co.

Maxwell is an owner that is also an amateur jockey and tends to ride all of his horses which is something very strange to see in the game but he is actually a smart jockey.

He has Bob And Co that has now won back to back Hunter Chases at Bangor and Fontwell and he has now qualified for the contest at the festival.

It would be a great story to see him go and land the contest and he is now 10/1 int from 14/1

The final horse we would like to talk about is another of Willie Mullins Bumper chances on the Wednesday of the festival with the expensive Ferny Hollow finally getting off the mark on Saturday.

The £300,000 purchase for Cheveley Park Stud was bought to follow in the footsteps of the superstar Envoi Allen after landing a good point to point.

After being bought he was given to Willie Mullins and the four year old that looks a highly promising athlete who finished second on his debut at Fairyhouse in a 17 runner field and then was an unlucky loser again at the Dublin Racing Festival when just being outstayed to finish second again.

It was only a matter of time before he got off the mark and in fine style he romped home on Saturday at Fairyhouse to really lay down his claim for the Champion Bumper.

The betting markets reacted heavily to his weekend performance and he went into 8/1 for the Grade One from 14/1 before.