General / Wayne Bailey / 08 December 2009 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet View Market

We're back to the Cotswolds this weekend for December's meeting featuring some significant trials for March - including the International Hurdle and Boylesports Gold Cup.

Before I talk about Cheltenham, I must mention the retirement of Mick Kinane which was officially announced this morning. He'll be best remembered for Sea The Stars but let's not forget his many other big-race wins. I was only 13 in 1993 but I remember vividly his win for Dermot Weld on Vintage Crop in the Melbourne Cup. Not only was it the first Irish win for the race that stops a nation; it was a first win for Europe too. The Europeans haven't managed to build on that success so Kinane has a very unique achievement under the belt.

I also have fond memories of Kinane on Galileo, George Washington and High Chaparral amongst others, and I'm sure a lot of our readers can go back much further than those because Kinane's career spanned an incredible 34 years. I can't say I knew him personally but I did meet him once or twice out racing and he was extremely down to earth and always very friendly with the punters.

I remember too a couple of years back when quite a few commentators were saying he was past it - but he quietly kept his own council and always maintained that he wouldn't be pushed. I bet he's glad he didn't listen to those voices as he now retires after having his greatest ever season on one of the greatest ever horses. It's a great sports story and I hope he has a very happy retirement. Although from what I read, he'll be kept busy with the breeding side of things and I'm sure we'll continue to hear plenty about the Tipperary native around Irish and UK racing circles.

But back to matters at hand where we've got plenty of decent National Hunt action at Cheltenham this Friday and Saturday. I notice form the early decs that Enda Bolger has his usual posse entered in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase on Friday so it could a case of business as usual for the County Limerick handler. Garde Champetre will once again have top weight to carry but no-one does Cross Country or bank races better than Bolger and he trains these horses specifically to raid these prizes. I know the handicapper may be catching up and we could try to be clever by looking further down the weights, but sometimes it pays to take the obvious approach and I'll be surprised if JP McManus' green and gold colours are not first past the winning post. Tony Martin's Royal County Star could be the main danger to the Bolger horses.

Saturday's Boylesports.com Gold Cup looks as tricky as hell and I'm going to wait a couple of days before analysing this one further. Atouchbetweencara is attracting the early support and I always take an extra close look at Tim Vaughan trained horses in the handicaps - but Chapoturgeon, Razor Royale, Tamarinbleu and Poquelin are amongst others with claims so it's probably a bit early to make a call on this until the final line-up is clear.

Half an hour later, the Boylesports International Hurdle is a little disappointing in that the main Champion Hurdle market leaders are missing - although we do have the winner and runner up of the 2009 renewal of that race Punjabi and Celestial Halo locking horns, so it should be a decent contest nonetheless.

Punjabi is making a seasonal reappearance and hasn't been seen since coming second to Solwhit at Punchestown back in May. Celestial Halo showed his toughness when giving weight all round at Wincanton last time out and his trainer Paul Nicholls is pleased with his progress:

"Celestial Halo is in good order. He came out of his race at Wincanton very well - he surprised me there with his performance - and he looks like he has improved a lot for the run"

They are hard to separate but slight preference goes to the Nicholls horse who could have more to come this season although I do concede that early prices of [1.9] are a little on the short side.

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Tags: Boylesports International Hurdle, Boylesports International Meeting, Boylesports.com Gold Cup, Celestial Halo, Enda Bolger, Garde Champetre, Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase, Mick Kinane, Paul Nicholls, Punjabi, Wayne Bailey