Paul Nicholls: Twinjets loves Newbury and goes there in good form
“Twinjets (Newbury 15:45) loves Newbury, he really goes well there, and he's in good form. Again, he's on a high enough mark now, but he will appreciate the fact that it hasn't rained too much. Good to soft ground is fine but if it dried any more, that would suit him even better. He has got top weight, but I think we've won this race about 10 times, or we're going for our tenth win. He's got a chance.
“If he won this, he'd end up with a penalty in the Plate, which won't help too much, and then you'd have to run him in the Ryanair at the Cheltenham Festival and hope you won a bit of place money. We'll have that sort of discussion afterwards, but this has always been his target. This is his Gold Cup in my book.”
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Sam Turner: Get on board with Dartmoor Pirate
“A confidence boosting defeat of No Tackle at Lingfield before Christmas (form enhanced since) set Dartmoor Pirate (Doncaster 14:30) up well for a step up in class at Town Moor last month and he delivered in style, powering to a convincing victory in the Great Yorkshire Chase at the expense of New Order who reopposes here.
“That was far from the perfect performance from Dartmoor Pirate as he won despite a modest round of jumping which saw him register just 5.7 (sixth best in the race) on the RaceiQ jump index metric.
“Anthony Honeyball's gelding lost ground on his field jumping fences nine to fifteen and it was only at the last obstacles in the race that he actually gained on his rivals. The fact he jumped the final two fences better than the previous seven and hit the line strongly recording the best finishing speed percentage of the race augurs well for today's step up in trip and a more polished round of fencing could see him defy a 5lb rise for his latest win.”
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Katie Midwinter: The Last Cloud should enjoy drop back in distance
“The Last Cloud (Kelso 14:15) finished fourth to Fortune De Mer in a performance worth upgrading at Cheltenham in October, beaten only a length-and-a-half by the talented winner, before finishing third to Idaho Sun and Mydaddypaddy in the Formby Novices' Hurdle at Aintree over Christmas.
“Well supported into favouritism in the Grade Two River Don when last seen, sent off at [18/5] having been available at [16/1] prior, The Last Cloud could only manage third to Thedeviluno, performing with credit but perhaps unable to see out the trip effectively enough in his first try over three miles.
“The drop back in distance should allow him to fare better, and, having already proven he can be competitive at this level, he makes the most appeal for Patrick Neville under Brian Hughes.”
