THE market and the jockey bookings tell you that, if you are going to be with a Paul Nicholls horse in today’s Betfair Hurdle, you want to be with Rubaud, not Hacker Des Places.

And you can easily make the case for Rubaud. He has made really nice progress this season. He raced just once for Paul Nicholls last season, his first since his arrival from France, and he won his first two races this season, both at Taunton, both at odds-on.