Cheltenham New Year's Day Preview

The first selection from the Cheltenham New Year's Day card comes in the Listed Ballymore Novices Hurdle contest and we have selected I Can't Explain for Nicky Henderson.

This potential superstar from the Seven Barrows yard is unbeaten in his short stint as a racehorse and is looking to continue his rich vein of form when stepping up to Listed company.

The six year old gelding won a point to point in Ireland and was then given to Henderson and put in a Class 3 where Nico de Boinville gave him an excellent ride to comfortably win the race. If repeating this on Tuesday he will have a great chance at taking this contest.

The second selection from the Cheltenham New Year's Day card comes in the Join The Betbright Racing Club Handicap Chase contest and we have selected Rolling Dylan for Phillip Hobbs.

This eight year old gelding has been in and around the frame on his two starts this season but crucially needs to get more race savvy if he wants to progress.

He has shown that he has ability to improve from his runs and trainer Phillip Hobbs is in superb form at the moment and Rolling Dylan has the chance to make a name for himself.

The third selection from the Cheltenham New Year's Day card comes in the Grade 2 Betbright Dipper Novices Chase contest and we have selected Defi Du Seuil.

We are looking for an early J P McManus double to start us off nicely and this Phillip Hobbs trained six year old seems to has finally found his hurdle form of two season ago and implemented it into his chase form.

He loves it at Cheltenham winning the Grade 1 JCB Triumph Hurdle here at the festival in 2017 and is now chasing this season. He ran here on his first chase start and he didn't take to it to well but in his second outing at Exeter in the Class 2 Novices Chase he scored nicely beating some of his opponents today

The next selection from the Cheltenham New Year's Day Each Way Lucky 15 comes in the Grade 3 Handicap chase contest and we have selected Aso.

This Venetia Williams trained nine year old since having a small break in October he came back in November and put in a great performance to land a Class 2 at Newbury.

Good to soft ground would be perfect for him but if it does not rain he can handle to the conditions and if it rains he can also handle it softer, he is very versatile and worth a go.

The fifth selection from the Cheltenham New Year's Day Each Way Lucky 15 comes in the Class 2 Handicap Hurdle and we have selected Vive Le Roi.

This Tony Carrol trained eight year old really is Mr consistent having figures of 221121 in his last six races. This is outstanding and the majority of these wins have come around the same distance as this race.

This gelding handles both good and soft ground so the weather forecast should not effect how he should perform. He is in a tougher field and will need to be at his best but he is nice in the weights and has a real chance.

The penultimate selection from the Cheltenham New Year's Day card comes in the Grade 2 Dornan Engineering Relkeel Hurdle contest and we have selected Wholestone for Nigel Twiston Davies.

This eight year old in his time has produced some stand out performances which has seen him get some nice places in Grade 1 company whilst also landing a few Grade 2 contests.

To start this season the Munir and Souede owned gelding looked to be back to his best straight away winning a Class 2 at Aintree against some good horses. Since then he was poor in his last outing and if putting that behind him at a track he loves he will not be to far away.

The last selection from the Cheltenham New Year's Day card comes in the Listed National Hunt Flat Race contest and we have selected Coscova for Martyn Meade.

This three year old could be a real eye-catcher if going on to perform in this race coming off the back of a superb performance on his debut in a 16 field bumper at Huntingdon when he went on to score nicely.

Martyn Meade is not known for his national hunt horses but this looks to be a nicely bred three year old. The booking of Nico de Boinville is a positive as he is in flying form at the moment.