Lucinda Russell’s William Hill blog: A busy weekend at Cheltenham and Kelso

William Hill ambassador Lucinda Russell looks ahead to a busy few days for the yard from Cheltenham and Kelso, including the return of last season’s Grand National hero Corach Rambler.

Cheltenham, Friday

I’m so, so excited about El Elefante in the novices’ hurdle (2:45pm). She’s a filly that is just so straightforward. Everything she’s done so far, she has found very easy.  I don’t know how good she’s going to be and, in a way, I suppose that’s why we’re running her in this race, where she gets a mares’ allowance. Who knows how good she is going to be long-term, but rather than risking her in a low-Grade race, I’d rather try her at Cheltenham and see how she gets on.

She’s definitely a stayer and we entered her in the three-mile race as well, but I think let’s try her over the 2 ½ distance and see how she gets on.

Destiny Is All is very consistent but this handicap chase (4:30pm) will be a tough race. It always ends up being a full field of good, experienced horses and will be a step up in class for him since Kelso, but will certainly give us a better idea of what we do with him for the rest of the season and whether he’s improving. If we can get him up in a handicap race like the Welsh National or the Borders National that would be great.

Much like El Elefante, Serious Operator is quite straightforward, and this handicap hurdle (5:05pm) looks a good early season spot for him. He was disappointing at this meeting last year but we found out that he had a breathing issue after that and we had his wind done.

I think this looks about the right trip for him, but it will be interesting to see how he copes with the track – the proof will be in the pudding.  Paddy Wadge also gets on very well with him and you never get worried when you see he’s riding him.

Cheltenham, Saturday 

Bois Guillbert (1.50pm) did really well last season, winning two junior hurdles, and we weren’t sure if his handicap mark was correct or if it had been inflated or not as a result. It turns out to looks pretty fair as he won well on handicap debut at Kelso earlier this month, and hopefully, there might be even a little bit more improvement to come. I think he deserves his chance in this as it’s a valuable race.

He’s a funny horse, as when he’s at home he can jump a little bit big, but actually, in a race he’s a little more sensible so I’m hoping he will step up!

Kelso, Saturday

Domandlouis (2:04pm) is related to Big River and such has taken on his mantle and loves it around Kelso. We are excited to see where we go with him for the rest of the season and he jumps nicely at home.

It’s the Edinburgh Gin Chase (1.29pm) for Corach Rambler’s first run of the season. We could have gone to Cheltenham but we just thought with this being a limited handicap it was the better option. He doesn’t have to give quite as much weight away and it should suit him nicely.

He’s in really great form at home and everything he’s shown us so far suggests he’s still going as well as he did before the Grand National. You can never be sure how much these races take out of a horse, but he seems really well in himself and we’re looking forward to getting him going. He doesn’t take an awful lot of work to get fit and we took him for a racecourse gallop at Ayr which will have hopefully brought him forward too.

He owes us absolutely nothing and he’s just a real joy to have in the yard.

We tried Bollingerandkrug (2.39pm) over fences a year too soon and then we took him around Musselburgh, and he absolutely loved it. Since then, he has really enjoyed his jumping and is an exciting horse to watch as he front runs. This is a big step-up in class for him, but he looks to be in good form and if he takes to it at Kelso then he has a good chance.

I love Old Gregorian (3:54pm) and the owners have let us take our time with him. He ran in bumpers and unfortunately, we had to run him against El Elefante which was a really big shame as he was in really good form and came second. He’s a very nice horse and he’s still maturing but is certainly the type to be winning hurdles this season, whether or not it’s on his debut I’m not sure.