"Steps To Freedom and Oscars Well, in fine fettle" Jessica Harrington

Jessica Harrington reports her two big hopes on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, Steps To Freedom and Oscars Well, in fine fettle.

The County Kildare trainer took the pair to the Curragh for a racecourse workout on Tuesday.

Steps To Freedom, a leading fancy for the William Hill Supreme Novices' Hurdle that opens the meeting, jumped well in a schooling session.

"Steps To Freedom schooled around 12 hurdles at the Curragh this morning," Harrington tweeted.

"He was very good and all is on track for Cheltenham."

Oscars Well, her runner in the Stan James Champion Hurdle, also enjoyed a racecourse gallop.

Harrington added: "Oscars Well galloped today and was very good.

"All on course for Cheltenham."

Children's Heart Unit Fund Charity To benefit From Mr Wylie

One of owner Graham Wylie's two leading hopes for this year's John Smith's Grand National will be running in aid of the Children's Heart Unit Fund.

Wylie has deep personal ties with the charity as one of his twin daughters, Kiera, has undergone three live-saving operations at the Children's Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle since being born in December 2009. The owner is set to be represented by ante-post Grand National favourite Prince De Beauchene, as well as major contender On His Own, in this year's renewal of the world's most famous steeplechase.

Both horses are trained by Willie Mullins, and will still carry Wylie's black and beige silks, but one will be bidding to pick up some prize-money for the Children's Heart Unit Fund.

"One of the horses will be leased to a good friend of mine called Semore Kurdi for the day and will run in aid of the Children's Heart Unit Fund," said Wylie.


"The people at the Children's Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle have performed three operations on my daughter Kiera. She had to have open heart surgery soon after she was born and has had two operations since, but hopefully she will never have to have another heart operation again."

It is now up to Kurdi whether the charity will be represented by Prince De Beauchene, a runaway winner of the Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse last weekend, or Thyestes Chase scorer On His Own.

News from Nicky Henderson

Nicky Henderson's view of the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup does not differ vastly from the bookmakers, with the trainer predicting an ultra-close fifth clash between Long Run and Kauto Star.

Last season was dominated by Henderson's Long Run, when he crushed the rival five years his senior in both the King George and Gold Cup, but the regenerated veteran has exacted brutal revenge this winter.

Eight lengths separated the pair in the Betfair Chase at Haydock before Long Run narrowed the gap to a length and a quarter at Kempton on Boxing Day, and Henderson has noted the enthusiastic vibes coming from Kauto Star's trainer, Paul Nicholls. While Long Run was not particularly impressive in beating stablemate Burton Port in his warm-up at Newbury less than a fortnight ago, he remains the sponsors' 9-4 favourite over 3-1 Kauto Star.

"I don't think there's any doubt this is a different horse to the one we were playing with last year," Henderson said of Kauto Star.

"I think he was going through a patch last year and people were baying for his retirement. I wish Paul had listened! He has even avoided going through the final fence now - he has put the whole thing together.

"At Kempton we were only beaten a couple of lengths and had Long Run really winged the last we might have got it down. Ruby (Walsh) has really put the turbo on early with Kauto this year and (Cheltenham) is a different track to do it on. We were two-love up and now it's two-all and it's going to be a very interesting battle. I've a nasty feeling public opinion will go with the old favourite and I'll be very unpopular if we beat him. Last year was a great Gold Cup. It's all to play for and I don't think there's much between them."

One weapon Henderson has up his sleeve is the use of earplugs, which the French-bred has often worn during races.

He added: "He will have them for the parade, as we want to block that out, but they will come off in the race. He's in good form. He came out of Newbury well and did his first bit of work this morning. He'll do one bit with (jumping guru) Yogi Breisner next week and he won't see a fence between now and then."

News On Ballabriggs

John Smith's Grand National winner Ballabriggs is one of 12 entries in Saturday's totepool.com Premier Chase at Kelso.

The Trevor Hemmings-owned gelding, trained by Donald McCain, used the race as a stepping stone to Aintree glory last season - although he met with defeat at the Borders track when second to Skippers Brig.

Ballabriggs also holds entries on the same day in the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster and the Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury.

Ollie Magern Retired

Popular veteran Ollie Magern has been retired by owner Roger Nicholls.

The 14-year-old won 13 of his 59 starts under Rules, including the 2004 Feltham Chase at Kempton and two renewals of the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.

Trained for nearly 10 years by Nigel Twiston-Davies, Ollie Magern was sidelined for well over a year before making one final stab at glory in the hunter-chase division. However, after finishing a tailed-off sixth on his return at Sandown, Nicholls has called time on his racing career.

"It was an easy decision to retire him. I've always said Ollie would tell us when it was time to retire him and that's what he did," he told the Gloucestershire Echo.

"It was a sad day when I made the decision but we've got to do what's best for him. He's been fantastic and he's done us proud.

"Nigel has done a great job with him throughout his career."

Ollie Magern will now retire to his owner's farm in Oxfordshire, and Nicholls added: "He's a happy horse and he'll have a very active and enjoyable retirement here at home. I'll be able to see him from the window and keep an eye on him in his paddock."

News On Mister Marker In Eider

Nicky Richards hopes the burden of top weight will not stop Mister Marker from putting up a bold bid in the Betfred Eider at Newcastle on Saturday.

The eight-year-old has been left with the task of carrying 11st 12lb after the weights were raised 9lb due to the defection of the top two in the handicap, Arbor Supreme and Swincombe Rock, at the final declaration stage. However, Richards reports his charge in fine shape ahead of the four-mile-one-furlong stamina test.

"Having to carry top weight doesn't help the job, but he's in good condition and I'm very happy with the horse. It's a shame they haven't had a bit of rain because he acts very well on soft ground and he's got a long way to go with top weight. Hopefully that won't be such a big problem. He's fine and I'm looking forward to running him," said the Greystoke trainer.

Nacarat...fancy his chances?

Tom George feels Nacarat is showing all of his old sparkle ahead of his fourth appearance in the Racing Plus Chase at Kempton on Saturday.

Winner of the race in 2009, he was narrowly denied back-to-back successes by Razor Royale and then finished a gallant third 12 months ago. His handler admitted he made a mistake by running him at Aintree in early December on unsuitably soft ground and has given the 11-year-old a break since he ran in the King George.

"He's been good since the King George. It was probably an error on my part to run him as he'd had a very hard race the time before at Aintree. We thought we might get away with it, but it came too soon and, consequently, Paddy (Brennan) said he felt a bit flat," said George.

"The ground went very soft at Aintree on the day and we thought we might just get away with it as it looked winnable, but it backfired. Because of that we've given him a nice, long break before this race, which is always a big aim for him. It looks like he's going to have his ideal ground for the first time since he won the race a few years ago - he bounces off good ground.

"Whenever he's run against the best, the likes of Kauto Star and Imperial Commander, he's always done it on ground softer than he really wants, so it's never been a fair reflection. Despite him being 11 he's never had that much racing so it's not like we've bottomed him. The signs are good and although you never can tell with horses until you run them, he's had a very good prep."