TV3 Preview Not to be Missed

THE CHELTENHAM COUNTDOWN STARTS HERE!

Cheltenham Festival Preview Programme Airs Exclusively on TV3

A special preview of the 2009 Cheltenham National Hunt racing festival will be broadcast exclusively on TV3 on Thursday, 5th March at 11.40pm following Nightly News with Vincent Browne. There will be a repeat screening on Saturday morning, 7th March at 8.50am.

Presenter Denis Kirwan will be joined by Ireland's leading racing analyst Donn McClean, also by Senior National Hunt Handicapper Noel O'Brien and by Paddy Power, PR Director of Paddy Power Bookmakers, for a one-hour preview of the biggest racing festival of the year.

The panel will give their views and mark your card for all 16 Championship races at this year's festival.

We take a vist to Paul Nicholls' Dicheat Yard to discuss his principal festival contenders. The English Champion trainer last year saddled the first three in the Cheltenham Festival Gold Cup. We also visits Irish Champion trainer Willie Mullins who has assembled his strongest ever team for an assault on some of the festival's biggest prizes. Colm Murphy speaks about his bid to win a second Champion Hurdle with the gutsy Brave Inca.

Speaking about the programme, Producer, Stephen Cullinane said: "The Cheltenham Festival is one of the biggest sporting events of the year and we are delighted to bring punters an expert guide to the 2009 spectacle. Our preview programme will provide viewers with the best tips and the very latest betting information, delivered by people passionate about their racing."