Noland is the star of the show at Sandown today, not that you would want to be backing him at long odds-on. It could be argued Paul Nicholls is taking a bit of a chance running him on fast ground this close to Cheltenham, but he clearly feels Noland needs more experience before the Arkle. If anything goes wrong today, betting on that Festival race will be turned upside down. Regardless of how Noland gets on, Ring The Boss is the value for the Arkle and any of the remaining 20-1 should be snapped up -- he is 25s with BlueSquare. Ring The Boss ran a blinder on his chasing debut at Warwick and Philip Hobbs has stated the horse's target is the Arkle.
With ground conditions in his favour for the first time over hurdles, Distiller (1.50) can go well at a decent price in the Sandown opener. He needed a sound surface on the Flat, and his efforts over timber so far do not do him justice. He didn't run at all badly behind Franchoek at Cheltenham on his penultimate start.
Sir Harry Ormesher (2.35) is thought to be Cheltenham-bound, so he should be hard to beat on his first start for Alan King at Warwick. Leo's Lucky Star (4.50) really caught the eye at Kempton and should go well with Tom Scudamore taking over. Glad Big is an obvious threat, and Rawdon should run a lot better now that he is handicapped and, like Distiller, racing on decent ground over hurdles for the first time.
