Nervous time for everyone with Cheltenham looming

Only a few weeks to go. Cheltenham is literally just around the corner and it"s not only the horses that have to be prepared for what really is the All-Ireland final or the Champions League for national hunt racing. And with both Fairyhouse at Easter and Punchestown at the end of April also looming on the horizon, there is a real sense of excitement around the place. Everyone here, the staff, especially those who would be in charge of a likely runner, one with a chance in a big race, would be twice as anxious about everything in relation to their particular horse. So many things can determine whether a horse will go to the Festival or not, how the preparation is progressing, what the state of the ground will be, all important factors to be considered. One member of the staff here is from England and she would be thrilled if she gets to Cheltenham in a fortnight. Then you have the owners as well, it"s a nervous time for them, especially if they haven"t had a runner at Cheltenham before. I"m happy with the way our preparations are going. Initially, I thought we would have small enough team for Prestbury Park, but after Go Native won at Naas on Sunday it gave me an extra contender that I wasn"t really expecting. Go Native had a very good run at Christmas behind Hurricane Fly, he made a mistake at the last that day, but at Naas his jumping was faultless and he quickened up well from the last. That was good enough to convince me to send him for the Supreme Novices Hurdle That"s the thing about training horses, you always have to expect the unexpected. Many times that will turn out to be a disappointment, but on Sunday last it was a real positive. Realt Dubh, which also won last week, is still a possibility for the Ballymore Properties Hurdle, but that"s not finalised yet and I will be assessing his prospects over the next week or so. If the ground is right it looks like I will have three runners in the Champion Hurdle, Harchibald, Jered and Muirhead. The plan at the moment is to run Harchibald at Dundalk on Friday night and I think that Paul Carberry will be able to ride him, he has a big enough weight so it shouldn"t be a problem. The only concern I have about Friday night"s race is whether or not they will go a good enough gallop, but even something like that can turn out to be advantageous in as much as we might learn something new. We"ve used Dundalk as a preparatory race in the past, last year before Cheltenham and it worked out fine, it was the ground that went against us in the Champion Hurdle. Prior to that Harchibald won at Dundalk before he won the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle. Jered will do a piece of work at home later this week and will then go to Leopardstown on Sunday where he will have another spin after racing. It"s likely that Nicanor will do the same and I might even bring Casey Jones and Parsons Pistol. It"s not vital, but for the horse it"s just like going racing, it"s a change in routine, some horses benefit from it, but I wouldn"t even consider bringing Muirhead as it would take too much out of him. You just have to know your horses, but you also have to guard against doing too much with them. There will be as much, if not more interest in what goes on after the main action on the track next Sunday, it"s almost a tradition at this stage and the majority of the racegoers will probably wait to watch all the main hopefuls in action. I"m pleased with Jered, everything has gone well for him and he is in good shape. Our third contender, Muirhead, we have to be careful with him as I explained before. We can"t afford to do too much with him, we have to keep the weight on him. He doesn"t do as much work as the others because he just doesn"t take it. That presents a completely different challenge for a trainer, but I can report that he is in good form also and I"m very happy with him. Riding arrangements for the big race will also pose a problem, but I"m delighted that Denis O"Regan is with us this week and I hope he will be available for Cheltenham, especially if I have three runners in the Champion Hurdle. He is suspended in England at the moment, he has picked up a lot of bans over there. One horse that is definitely not going to Cheltenham is Pandorama. He is a very big horse and he is still only a six-year-old. Paul Carberry suggested that it would be better to keep him until next year as a chaser. We discussed it, we felt that he would get a very hard race in a Cheltenham hurdle, we want to mind him and hopefully it will pay off next year. It"s disappointing for the owner, Robert Bagnall from Kinnegad, but he understands the situation and he will have a runner anyway, Parsons Pistol will be flying the Westmeath colours and will probably attract a lot of local support. Robert also owns Rochfordbridge which may run at Navan on Saturday, but if the ground is sticky he will not run. One to watch at Navan could be Charlie Yardbird in a hurdle race, if he ever brings his home form to the track then he would have a good chance, he prefers going right-handed, but that"s not a big factor at Navan which is a good galloping track. Regarding Cheltenham, Casey Jones will go for the three-mile chase and Parsons Pistol will run in the four-miler, that"s an amateur race and Nina will have the ride in that. She had a good win at Fairyhouse on Saturday for Enda Bolger with An Siorrac which could not have been more impressive when winning the John McCarthy Memorial Hunters Chase. Nina described him afterwards as a 'hell of a horse' and it was great performance. We had Orpheus Valley in a chase at Fairyhouse and he got carried out by a loose horse. He had a wind operation since he won his last race, but he got very tired and that"s really what happened. I also ran Chateau D"eau in a handicap hurdle, all I can say is that he ran stink, I hope it was the ground, it was very sticky and he won two bumpers on fast ground. Back to the drawing board, I suppose. Our bumper horse, Midtown Boy, ran a good second behind another winner from the Willie Mullins yard. If we can avoid Willie the next day we should win a bumper with him. I wouldn"t be surprised if Willie turns up with seven or eight for the Champion Bumper, but even that poses a different set of problems. Cleni Boy is in the Ulster National at Downpatrick this week and could have a chance while Donnas Palm is likely to go for a novice hurdle at Thurles on Thursday. When the weather started to pick up I decided to go for this race, if I"m happy with him, then he will run I was also pleased with a new young jockey we have who had his first ride this week, Tim Carroll who is a son of Raymond and a grandson of the legendary Frankie Carroll from Kildalkey. Tim is certainly a great prospect and has done very well at the pony racing, I think he has a great natural talent and certainly has the potential to be successful. Visit Noel Meade"s website: www.noelmeade.com