What to watch out for as we head into the Spring festivals The week after the Cheltenham Festival is always tough if you’re a National Hunt racing fan, as motivation can be hard to find when the best four days of racing in the world is over for another year. March also beckons in the return of Flat racing, which sends many into hibernation until October. We still have Aintree and Punchestown to look forward to throughout the spring and our attention now turns to them. Whilst this might not be the most informative week, it’s always worth keeping your eyes and ears open and undoubtedly, some interesting information will come to light. Keep an eye on the latest news It’s always good to stay informed and we’ve already had some snippets with regards to Aintree. Obviously horses' participation at Aintree and Punchestown is decided by how well they come out of Cheltenham and we should start to hear both negative and positive updates now. Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden have already suggested that the very promising novice hurdler No Drama This End is likely to go to Aintree. Nothing went right for him in the Turners’, but Cobden went easy on him and a step up in trip is likely, with a run in the three-mile novice hurdle. Philip Hobbs & Johnson White have also earmarked Supreme Novices’ Hurdle runner-up Sober Glory for the Top Novices’ Hurdle and it would be interesting to see if Old Park Star was to line up too. News and updates will be coming thick and fast so keep an eye out. Will Nick Rockett defend his crown? Nick Rockett provided a very poignant moment for the Mullins family when landing last year’s Grand National. Not only did it effectively win his father Willie the trainers’ title in Britain, it reduced the great trainer to tears and he labelled that success as the proudest moment of his career. Whether or not it was the plan to send him out late, Nick Rockett only made his seasonal debut at Down Royal this week and he could only manage third behind Gerri Colombe on that occasion. It remains to be seen if he’ll line up at Aintree off the back of that but he’ll need to improve. Gaelic Warrior’s homecoming — Mullins’ plans Willie Mullins can be fairly tight-lipped about his plots, but if we get him in a good mood, we could get a steer towards his Aintree and Punchestown plans. Aintree will be less of a priority this season, as Dan Skelton is all but guaranteed to take the title this year, but he’ll go big at Punchestown. Gaelic Warrior was so impressive in the Gold Cup last week and there could be an update on his potential participation at Aintree or Punchestown. It’s worth noting that he won the Aintree Bowl last season and there’s a fair gap between Cheltenham and Aintree this year. Punchestown’s Gold Cup might be more appealing, however, especially as the gap is even longer, but you wouldn’t blame Mullins for sending his star on his summer holidays either.
