Ante-post movers for the Cheltenham Festival The first festive weekend of jumps racing is in the books, with some top-quality fare on both sides of the Irish Sea having lit up the first weekend of December. After the Tingle Creek Festival at Sandown, we take a look at some of the ante-post movers and shakers for the Cheltenham Festival in March. Il Etait Temps - Queen Mother Champion Chase @ 11/4 with bet365, Betfred Lulamba - Arkle Novices' Chase @ 5/2 with William Hill, BetMGM Doctor Steinberg - Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle @ 16/1 with bet365, Paddy Power No Drama This End - Turners Novices' Hurdle @ 6/1 with Betfred, Ladbrokes Mullins machine dominates in Tingle Creek romp Il Etait Temps was set for a real three-way scrap for the Tingle Creek at Sandown, it seemed, as he jumped the Pond Fence in unison with reigning champ Jonbon and Britain's young pretender L'eau Du Sud. Up the home straight, however, Paul Townend's partner powered clear from his rivals to win by nine lengths in a most authoritative display. He has shot to the head of the Champion Chase market, displacing last season's impressive winner Marine Nationale, who is yet to reappear. The doubters will point to Il Etait Temps' 0-3 record at the Cheltenham Festival as a reason to worry for him. Another Mullins contender, Majborough, doubled in price over the weekend and is now 6/1 after his defeat in the Hilly Way Chase at Cork was characterised by some unsure jumping. L'eau Du Sud is now a 16/1 chance, while Jonbon's hopes of finally snaring March success in the Cotswolds are rated at 25/1, while the Seven Barrows inmate is much shorter (7/1 with bet365) to win the Ryanair Chase up in trip. Lulamba looks the real deal Nicky Henderson got some relief on Saturday afternoon as Lulamba showed his star potential. It was a tough week for the Seven Barrows veteran after Constitution Hill's latest despair and Jonbon's defeat, but this rising star looks like the real deal. He was brilliant in the Henry VIII Novices' Chase win at Sandown, thriving at the shortest trip with a nine-and-a-half-length triumph under Nico de Boinville. He was denied very late in the Triumph Hurdle last season, but many feel Lulamba could be Henderson's record-extending ninth winner in the two-mile novice chasing Championship race. Last season's Supreme Novices' winner Kopek Des Bordes has a challenger in the market, with many firms now going 2/1 each of two atop the Arkle betting. Just what the Doctor ordered At Navan on Saturday conditions were of the attritional nature, the very sort we often come to associate with the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle, Cheltenham's three-mile test for novices. The Grade 2 Navan Novice Hurdle over 2m4f saw a couple of Gordon Elliott inmates dominating the betting, Port Authority and Kovanis, but it was Doctor Steinberg that scored impressively for Willie and Danny Mullins. They made all and left the Cullentra duo gasping for air in the home straight as it was left instead to Paul Nolan's runner, Thedeviluno, to pursue Doctor Steinberg in vain. It was a strong staying effort and the Closutton inmate is now 2-2 over hurdles, with most firms cutting him from a general 33/1 chance to 16s for the Albert Bartlett. No Drama at all for Nicholls' rising star Paul Nicholls took some stick when he compared No Drama This End to the great Denman after his facile success at Cheltenham's November Meeting, but perhaps the Ditcheat supremo is on the right track after all. Harry Cobden's partner was thought to be headed for Newbury over Christmas but, instead, they popped up in the Winter Novices' Hurdle at Sandown on Friday and sauntered to another easy success. No Drama This End has been trimmed to a general 6/1 chance for the intermediate Turners Novices' Hurdle come March and his connections are now sharing Nicholls' enthusiasm. "I've been lucky enough to have some really good horses but this horse could be special," said co-owner Max McNeill. "He's so exciting, I've never had one potentially this good." Such was his authority at Sandown, the Challow Novices' Hurdle later his month is still very much on the cards - a Grade 1 event that Denman won as a novice.
