Thursday 16th November 2017

We’ve not had any runners this week but that should change soon as most of our Winter team will be on a racecourse in the next couple of weeks.

Trigger Nichol is ready to make his debut for us, he’ll likely start in a bumper. Ilovemints has quite a few options at the end of the month whilst Newt, Audacious Plan & West Of The Edge will also be running in a few weeks’ time.

Broughtons Admiral has finished his loose schooling and was picked up yesterday by Alastair Ralph. He’ll have a quite week settling into his new home before Alastair and his team start prep for his hurdles debut.

Broughtons Admiral schooled nicely and jumped barrels after 3 days. He’s not seen a full-size hurdle yet but will hopefully be popping them towards the end of next week. He’s fit from the flat so it’s all about getting him jumping at this stage.

The Cheltenham November meeting starts tomorrow, 3 days of great racing with some quality horses on show.

News broke yesterday that Altior will miss a good part of the season as he needs a wind op. Reports suggest he has a problem with his larynx. If that’s correct he’ll likely have a tie back procedure. We’ve had a good few horses that required this operation. The operation is routine enough, but horses require a month to six weeks box rest afterwards to avoid infection. Light work can then resume.

Altior will be back in full training mid-January. Nicky Henderson will then have a month and a half to get him ready for Cheltenham. It takes approx 3 months to get a racehorse fit. You do the maths. I’m not saying Altior will miss the Champion Chase, but it won’t be an ideal prep and perhaps bit of a rush job.

For that reason, I suggest you take the 7-1 available on Min for the Queen Mother.

Min was 8-1 in a few places last night, but I snapped quite a bit of that up. The second favourite is Douvan. I wouldn't be 100% sure he would run and perhaps has a bit to prove anyhow. If Alitor doesn’t make it, Min will likely be the short-priced favourite if things go as they should between now and March.

The price of 7-1 could look huge come Wednesday 14^th March.