Horses In Focus / Timeform / 10 November 2009 / Leave a comment

A trio with solid Cheltenham prospects are reviewed by Timeform

"Celestial Halo ran a mighty race to split the Nicky Henderson-trained pair Punjabi and Binocular when a close second in last season's Champion Hurdle and will presumably undergo a similarly light campaign geared around that big day in March."

Somersby wasn't far behind the top novice hurdlers in 2008/9, making the frame in both the Supreme at Cheltenham and Top Novices' at Aintree. The Henrietta Knight-trained gelding is very much built to make a chaser and he made a fine start in that sphere when taking a novice event at Warwick last week. He jumped fluently and quickened impressively to stretch clear of his four rivals in the straight, his rider not having to do much at all. He is almost certain to win graded races and the Arkle is a very realistic long-term aim.

Celestial Halo underlined his status as one of the best home-trained two-mile hurdlers around with a convincing reappearance win in the Grade 2 Elite Hurdle at Wincanton on Saturday. Conceding weight all round and taking over three furlongs out, Celestial Halo galloped on strongly to assert in typically willing fashion up the straight, the Galileo gelding beating David Pipe's Mamlook by ten lengths. He ran a mighty race to split the Nicky Henderson-trained pair Punjabi and Binocular when a close second in last season's Champion Hurdle and will presumably undergo a similarly light campaign geared around that big day in March.

Crack Away Jack created a favourable impression on his first start over fences at Sandown last weekend. While the opposition wasn't up to much he jumped well in the main and soon had the race won once sent on three out. This looked a near-perfect preparation for much sterner tasks to come. His trainer, Emma Lavelle, looks to have a strong hand in the novice chasing department with Kangaroo Court also set to take high order over fences.

Tags: Arkle Chase, Celestial Halo, Champion Hurdle, Crack Away Jack, Somersby