Under Barry Geraghty’s reins, disaster almost struck Punjabi when Treaty Flyer fell nearly a mile from home, and nearly brought Punjabi down too. However Geraghty managed to clear over the second last flight and cruise home with a win of 12 lengths.

With this win, Nicky Henderson stated that Punjabi would be heading to Cheltenham with an easy win, unlike last year, where he headed to Cheltenham after getting beaten at Wincanton.

While Geraghty will have to choose between Henderson’s Punjabi and Zaynar at Cheltenham, Henderson mentioned that Tony McCoy will be taking the mount his colleague rejects.

I’ve also heard on the grapevine that Alan King had practically ruled out Mille Chief’s participation in the Festival as he was ‘hopping lame’. While he was expected to run in the Adonis Hurdle that Soldatino had won at Kempton, it was doubtful he would be running at Cheltenham on March 19th.

Mille Chief was X-rayed, but nothing showed up; but everyone is keeping their fingers crossed for a quick recovery on his part as the injury did crop up at the wrong time, just ahead of the Cheltenham.

This in turn provides Champion Hurdle winner Punjabi with a trial race before he actually gets to defend his crown. More than Punjabi, it is his trainer Nicky Henderson who is delighted with the addition of this race. In fact, he has also entered Afsoun and French Open in it as a mark of his support for the race.

The other entries for the trial race are Andy Turnell’s Blue Bajan, Border Castle, Gary Moore’s Mon Michael, Earth Magic, Treaty Flyer, Spider Boy and Supernoverre.

In the meantime, I hear that Peter Brown, who is accused of murdering two young jockeys, Jamie Kyne and Jan Wilson in a flat fire last September may face further charges. The jockeys’ deaths were a shock to the racing fraternity, wherein various tributes were held in racecourses and yards across Ireland and Britain.

The additional charges Brown faces are charges of manslaughter and arson with the intent to endanger life.

On a brighter note, I have to mention that Bothy has managed to maintain his unbeaten record with a second success at Taunton. With this, he qualifies for the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival.

Henderson, who is presently the country’s leading handler in numbers, stated that the preliminaries to Cheltenham looked easy, but were actually nerve-wracking. Speaking of next month’s Cheltenham Festival, I heard that Henry de Bromhead was really happy with Sizing Europe’s preparation for the race.

Bromhead stated that he was in great form, and as he ran better fresh, they will be giving him a break before Cheltenham.

In the meantime, I noticed that Nicky Richards’ Monet’s Garden gave his younger rivals a master class in jumping by winning the Betfair Ascot Chase for the second time. It was in 2007 that Monet’s Garden struck and chased home Kauto Star a year later. His win at Aintree at the start of the season, and the repetition of the trick here under Barry Geraghty proved that he was no back number.

In fact, he managed to shake Herecomesthetruth’s attentions and ground his rivals into submission before closing up matters and heading home. He registered a one and a half length win over Albertas Run, while The Sawyer finished third.

This not only led them to the chase course, but lead to four others following his lead to the wrong side of the rails. However the remaining jockeys realised their mistake, and managed to keep on the right part of the course.

The four other misguided jockeys were Peter Buchanan on Catleen, James O’Farrell on Glen Innis Lady, Campbell Gillies on Moscow Mischief and Paddy Aspell on Ruby Queen.

The eventual winner of the race was Mick Easterby on Diavoleria.

The jockeys said that the course had never been divided this way, and though it was marked in the weighing room, they say that someone should have ensured that the jockeys were aware of the change.

However stipendiary steward Adie Smith stated that the course was clearly marked on the map, and as most of the jockeys were regulars there, they should have been familiar with the track.

On a sourer note, I was grief struck to hear that the young jockey, Ronan Lawlor was killed in a gallops accident on Tuesday, in Ireland. It was while pulling up his mount that the horse jinked to the right, and catapulted the jockey out of the saddle, into a wooden stake. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

It was Get Me Out Of Here that came to AP McCoy’s salivation in the Totesport Trophy at Newbury, which up until that point, looked to be a wretched afternoon for the champion jockey. O’Neill did mention that Get Me Out Of Here jumped well in the race, and would be running in both the Supreme and the Neptune at Cheltenham.

According to the grapevine, Diamond Harry’s win at the Toteplaceport Novice’s Chase at Newbury, ensures he will be racing at the Cheltenham Festival with an unblemished record. According to jockey Timmy Murphy, Diamond Harry is a big and talented horse.

In the meantime, I’ve also heard that Paul Nicholls has warned punters from writing off the chances of Denman in the Cheltenham Gold Cup after unseating Tony McCoy in the Aon Chase at Newbury.

This is because Nicholls said that Denman was 100% OK, and that what had happened to him could have happened to anyone. I am not so convinced I have to say, but time will tell. Nicholls also mentioned that with more work on the gallops, and five weeks to prepare, Denman would turn out to be a different horse and a strong contender for Cheltenham.

Murphy also hinted that he was thinking of racing King at the Aintree Melling Chase before heading to Cheltenham. Meanwhile, Murphy’s promising novice chaser, The Hollinwell too had worked well and will be having his next outing at Haydock before the Jewson Novice’s Handicap Chase.

Meanwhile, as I suspected last week I’ve now heard that Tony McCoy still believes that Binocular needs some improvement to become a serious contender for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle. Though Binocular ended up a close third in last year’s Cheltenham, he is yet to run anywhere near to that form so far this season.

AP McCoy also stated that although Binocular disposed of two inferior rivals at Sandown on Saturday, it was not with the level of intensity or slickness that he displayed last year. Since there’s still a little time, he hopes that Nicky Henderson will be able to bring out some improvement from him.

On a brighter note, after seeing Captain Cee Bee winning at Naas last Saturday, AP McCoy is sure that he has a chance of winning the Irish Independent Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham. McCoy said that though he made a small mistake at the last of the race, he was still eager to ride him at the race.

He stated that it was a lot of fast work that made him improve so much. In fact, when Murphy came to Doncaster, he had expected Kalahari to finish probably outside the top five, and so this win was a real surprise and treat to him.

Meanwhile I have to mention that Binocular made Nicky Henderson proud with his success at the Contenders Hurdle at Sandown. However, AP McCoy who rode him to victory was not so excited with his win as he felt that Binocular hadn’t shown the same form he had last year. He did however mention that Binocular’s trainer was a master trainer, and had the capacity of getting him ready for Cheltenham.

In the meantime, I heard that AP McCoy would be riding Denman instead of Ruby Walsh, and take on Kauto Star in the Cheltenham Gold Cup of March 19. McCoy was called in to replace Walsh who had decided to be loyal to stable mate and reigning champion, Kauto Star.

With Denman having won two Hennesseys and a Gold Cup, AP is more than happy at getting a chance to ride a great horse at the best race of the year, the Cheltenham Festival. It’ll be an intriguing battle, and I shall be there to see the action.

It was a superior leap at the final fence that sealed Philip Hide’s victory. Trainer Seamus Mullins stated that they were all pleased with Kawagino’s performance at Plumpton and that after taking a break, he would be making his annual visit to Cheltenham to run in the Pertemps Hurdle.

Its good news to hear that after being out since 2007 because of leg damage caused in the King George, Taranis proved to be a potential dark horse in Paul Nicholl’s defence of the Gold Cup with his successful win in the Argento Chase at Cheltenham.

With this, the 2007 Ryanair Chase hero may join the winners of the last three Gold Cups, Kauto Star and Denman to form a five strong representation from the country’s stable for the race on March 19th. Considering the injury and the amount of hard work Taranis has put into retaining his form, his owner Mrs. Yeoman’s patience was well worth it.

Meanwhile, I have to mention that the weather is upsetting many a plan; including Hereford’s meeting on Sunday, which will be confirmed after an 8am inspection. With the possibility of minus 2C overnight temperatures and a snow forecast, course clerk Katie Stephens does not want to take any chances.

Once again it may be touch and go at Prestbury Park. I went to the meeting on New Years Day when it was rumoured it would be off, and then after 2 races there was talk of it being called off again – so finger crossed for the weather this time round.

The 10 year old’s trainer Paul Nicholls did say that they were really keen on having Denman race on Saturday, however he also did mention that they would only be able to give the final decision  later in the week.

The decision is left pending as Denman will be having a third crack at the blue riband event – the Aon Chase at Newbury, where he remains unbeaten and has managed to win two Henesseys no less. Nicholls did mention that it would help if the week was dry, as a wet week will mean the ground will be very tough at the Cheltenham meeting.

In the meantime, I’ve heard news of Barry Geraghty deserting Punjabi for the Champion Hurdle so that he gets to ride Punjabi’s stable mate Zaynar at Cheltenham in March.

The reason for making this decision on Geraghty’s part is attributed to Punjabi’s third successive defeat on Saturday. Though trainer Nicky Henderson is confident that Punjabi will improve, Punjabi’s racing manager has admitted that Geraghty was thinking of riding Zaynar anyway.

Just to inform you, Cheltenham officials are not taking any chances with the weather on Festival Trials Day on Saturday and have decided to deploy frost covers. This measure was resorted to by course clerk Simon Claisse with temperatures dipping below freezing levels again in the past few days..