Paul Nicholls column: inside track on my Saturday runners

The last few weeks of racing, at the Cheltenham Trials and Dublin Racing Festival, have shown that there are plenty of improvers out there who will be taking on No Drama This End in the Turners Novices' Hurdle at the Festival next month.

Doctor Steinberg was impressive last week at Leopardstown, he looks an obvious one, I also think Gordon Elliott has a couple of nice horses in the race as well, and there will be others from Ireland. And you have to say Act Of Innocence did what Nicky Henderson wanted him to do when winning at Huntingdon on Thursday. I know for a fact that he is a very nice horse and will improve on better ground. 

It is looking like the Turner's is going to be a very good race, as you would expect at the Cheltenham Festival and we are happy with where we are at the moment. I was teasing No Drama This End's owners, saying that we might run him next Saturday in the National Hunt Novices Hurdle at Ascot, but no, the plan is still to go straight there. 

He is in great shape. A race would not do him any harm, but we don't need to do that, he will have a couple of away days. He looks great, worked well this morning, but of course it is going to be a competitive race as it always is. Denman went there and got beat and it was about the only time he did get beat so it shows those races at Cheltenham are hard.

I would say that we won't see too many come out now, because it is getting close to the Festival. Some of the horses that will be in it did have hard races in Ireland on testing ground. It is sure to be a competitive race.

My horses are in good form, running at a 37 per cent strike rate over the last two weeks, they look fantastic. I have just watched my weekend runners work this morning and thought they looked great. Long may it continue. 

I haven’t changed anything. We always come good at this time of year because we give the horses a bit of a break, do their flu jabs, and have them ready from February onwards. It's what we have done again this year, though we kept some going.

I couldn't tell you why we were a bit out of form in November. Some of the horses weren't right, and there are obviously some funny bugs going around - you look at some yards, for example Jonjo O’Neill shut down for three weeks, Venetia Williams is not having a great time - so there are definitely bugs going around that affect different yards at different times.

We obviously had something wrong in the autumn, although you can never put your finger on it, it seems to be the whole herd and affects you at different times. It seems to be more prevalent these days than it did 10 or 12 years ago. But ours are in good shape at the moment and long may it continue. 

At Haydock three weeks ago, he looked like he wanted three miles. All he did was stay on strongly and I just looked at the declarations ahead of this contest, and I don't think it is the most competitive race.

Dan Skelton's horse A Pai De Nom is obviously good, but his horse started off in October at Newton Abbot where he beat Calvino, and he's had some hard races with ok bits of form, but I just thought if we get the three miles we've got a lovely chance. 

He's a smart horse, he's maturing all the time, he was sixth in the Supreme last year. He needed his first run this year, as we knew he would, and then he won very nicely in the Gerry Feilden at Newbury in November, and that has turned out to be good, decent form.

This has been his target and he will love the ground. He has got to carry 12 stone, which probably tells you he is the best horse in the race, but it is a competitive handicap that is always hard to win. We think he has got a lovely chance.

He's got a lovely weight off 121. He was a tad unlucky last time, he only just got chinned, the open ditch got taken out, we had to go around it, and we went from being in second place to fifth place and then he only just got beat.

The trip won't do him any harm, the ground he will like, and he must be one of our best chances on Saturday.

She has been very harshly handicapped after what she achieved last season. She was unlucky not to win the first time off 142 and that was a good run. Then at Cheltenham she looked ok and was beaten by some better-handicapped horses. Last time, at Sandown, she just got out-stayed by Nurse Susan.

If Nurse Susan hadn't been in that race we would not have been talking about Jubilee Alpha being a tad disappointing. The easier track here will suit her, the ground is possibly an issue, but she will travel ok. Lorcan rides her, he's good on fillies, and I think she has a great chance.  

The idea is to qualify him for the veterans' series final which is at Haydock on 4 April. You have to be in the first eight to qualify - there is only seven runners here, so with a clear round hopefully he will qualify and that will be his target.

It is probably not ideal ground for him at Warwick on Saturday, but if we don't run and don't qualify, we are not going to be in the final. He is capable of running really well. I'm not sure 12 stone on heavy ground is his bag but we will see, he is a class horse. If he reproduces his Haydock form, he will win.

He is our biggest-price runner on Saturday, but he has probably got as good a chance as any. He needed the run the last time badly.

He has been difficult to train, he needed his run at Newbury, and the last day at Ascot over three miles probably stretched his stamina, but he took a good step forward and, over two-and-a-half miles on this ground, he has definitely got a chance and is a big price.