And in the beginning...

Day 1: T'is the week before Cheltenham, and all is good in the World. The course has announced that watering is to commence at Cheltenham to ensure good-to-soft going on the opening day, which is good for some, but not for others. The intention this week is to ensure I have no major losses and to try and nick a few quid for the pot next week. There are a couple of ordinary meetings today at Ffos Las and Stratford. From my horse alert list there are 3 runners today; Tempting Paradise (Ffos Las 3:25), Rate Of Knots (Stratford 3:05), and Sea Saffron (Stratford 4:50).

Sea Saffron did the biz for me a few weeks back - altho' at one point the money looked lost. Up 9lb for that win; todays 20f should suit well but "good" going may be too lively. An interesting one in this race is HIGH JACK. Best form has been at this trip and will handle the going, he's been dropped 6lb since running well behind Senor Shane and Captain Tidds. Thats useful form as both those have won since and gone well up the ratings.

TEMPTING PARADISE looks to have a solid chance of repeating its LTO win. That was run in a decent time too and the opposition today looks weak. Chapel Flowers will probably find this trip on the short side. Machu Picchu is the only runner for Jonjo here and McCoy rides, but this horse has not looked the real deal since arriving from France.

RATE OF KNOTS needs to recapture her form, but if she does then this mares race is there for the taking. Jockey McClernon has got a couple of good performances out of the horse before and it should prove too good for them today. Darn Hot is the danger as she's not run a poor race (when finishing). Best of luck.