THERE were plenty of Festival clues – positive and negative – in a packed weekend of racing on both sides of the Irish Sea.
A gold star goes to BANBRIDGE – one of our horses to follow for the season – who took another step forward in beating a useful field to win the Arkle Trial at Cheltenham.
His jumping was foot perfect at every fence and he quickened like a class act to give Tommy’s Oscar a six-length beating. He is still a generous 14-1 for the Arkle itself in March which looks far too big.
He has the option of the Turners too over a longer trip and he’s a similar price for that.
We haven’t seen the likes of Jonbon and Sir Gerhard yet but I’m having a small bet on Banbridge in both his Festival targets.