YOU can understand why Forward Plan has been put in as favourite for the three-and-a-quarter-mile handicap chase at Kelso this afternoon. Anthony Honeyball’s horse is a progressive young stayer who has taken his form to a new level since he started jumping fences.

Winner of his latest hurdle race at Fontwell in November, after which he was raised to a mark of 111, he was beaten off that mark on his debut over fences back at Fontwell in early December. But that was over short of two and a half miles. He stepped back up in trip to win at Southwell in January, and he stepped forward from that next time back at Southwell, and ran out an easy winner of a three-mile handicap chase off a mark of 115.

This is going to be tougher though. He is up in grade significantly, that Southwell race was a Class 4, 0-120 contest. This is a Class 2 contest in which the top weight is rated 147, and he is set to race off a mark of 125, 10lb higher than the mark off which he won last time. He may be up to the task, but it is a fair ask, and he is short.

Hill Sixteen does not have the scope for progression that Forward Plan has, but he has lots in his favour. For starters, he is back at Kelso, where he has performed admirably on the two occasions on which he has run there.

He only just gave best to Nuts Well in the Listed Premier Chase there in March last year, when he had Espoir De Romay and Big River behind him, and he finished third behind Aye Right and Sounds Russian over today’s course and distance last October. That race has worked out really well since, with Sounds Russian proving himself to be a high-class performer, finishing second in the Rowland Meyrick Chase and in the Cotswold Chase, only giving best to Ahoy Senor there. Also, the fourth-placed horse that day, Castle Robin, won a good handicap chase at Sandown last month.

We haven’t seen Hill Sixteen since he finished seventh in the Becher Chase at Aintree last December, but he can go well fresh. Also, he has had a wind operation since then, and that could bring him forward. He wouldn’t mind if the ground got softer, but good to soft ground over three and a quarter miles at Kelso should be a sufficient test for him, and he is down to a mark of 143, 4lb lower than the mark that he was awarded after he finished second in the Premier Chase last March. Craig Nichol has never won on him, but he has only ridden him four times, he rode him in that Premier Chase, and he went mighty close on him in the 2021 Becher Chase.

Newbury

It might pay to take a chance on the outsider of the field in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase at Newbury, Eden Du Houx.

David Pipe’s horse is nine now, but he has been in the form of his life this season. He ran out an easy winner of a handicap chase at Ffos Las in November off a handicap rating of 125 on his first run back in Britain since racing in France in the spring and the autumn.

He was disappointing next time in the good two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, but you can allow him that, it wasn’t his true running and it was his third sub-par run out of three attempts at Cheltenham.

He was much better at Sandown last time when he went down by a fast-diminishing half-length to Zhiguli off a mark of 132. He can be marked up on the bare form of that run too, because lots went wrong. He made a bad mistake at the water jump, at which he lost his position. He was crowded at the Pond Fence and again at the second last, but he still stayed on best of all up the hill, just failing to catch the winner.

He is only 1lb higher here, and that gives him a real chance. He has never run at Newbury, but he is two for two at Ffos Las, which is not wholly dissimilar to Newbury in terms of configuration, and the soft ground is ideal. And Fergus Gillard, who rode him for the first time last time at Sandown, is back on board, back claiming 3lb.

Recommended:

Hill Sixteen, 1 point win, 3.35 Kelso, 5/1 (generally)

Eden Du Houx, 1 point win, 2.05 Newbury, 16/1 (generally)

JONATHAN Burke will head to Auteuil on Sunday for the plum ride on exciting prospect Il Est Francais, who continues his French Champion Hurdle preparation.

The Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm-trained five-year-old is already a Grade 1 winner and is unbeaten in five attempts over hurdles.

With regular partner James Reveley sidelined with a broken leg, Felix de Giles came in for the ride on the gelding when he won by a length and a half from Kapteen earlier this month, who renews rivalry.

Il Est Francais is set to take on six rivals, who include Arnaud Chaille-Chaille’s crack hurdler Theleme, in the Prix Hypothese, a Grade 3 contest over an extended two and a half miles.

Going two furlongs further than when landing the Grade 3 Prix Juigne at the same track, George is anticipating it will be a tough assignment.

He said: “He is running and Johnny Burke is coming over to ride him. I just thought we should give him another run.

“He has come on a lot for his comeback run. We are taking on Theleme, who is one of the best hurdlers in France, so it is not going to be an easy task, although he’s got to give us four kilos as well, so hopefully we can keep our unbeaten record.

“But the main objective is in May (French Champion Hurdle).”

Il Est Francais, winner of the Grade 1 Prix Renaud du Vivier at Auteuil in November, could represent owners Richard Kelvin-Hughes and Haras De Saint-Voir at the Cheltenham Festival next year, should he progress as hoped.

Yet George and Swedish-born Zetterholm, who owns the yard at Avilly Saint-Leonard on the outskirts of Chantilly, are taking it one race at a time with the strapping gelding who takes a bit of work in order to get him cherry-ripe.

George added: “He might have another run before the French Champion Hurdle after this. We will see how he comes out of it.

“To be honest, he is not easy to get 100% fit, because in the morning there are not many who can go with him.

“It is quite nice to get a few runs into him before the big race, but we will see. He is a nice horse.”

Prix Hubert De Navailles is also an interesting race, with Amy Murphy’s Kalashnikov in the line-up against the Grade 1 winner Docteur Du Ballon trained by Louisa Carberry.

That 11-year-old has been absent since he won the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris in May 2021.