Paul Townend: Lulamba views and my four Saturday rides

It's been another interesting week, with plenty of Cheltenham chat across the media as the Festival gets ever nearer, and it's all great fun in the build-up to the biggest week in our sport.

I suppose one of the big clashes everybody is looking forward to is Kopek Des Bordes versus Lulamba in the Arkle, and having caught the replay of Lulamba's win at Newbury last weekend, I'd say that experience will stand him in good stead going into the Festival, and although he did plenty wrong, I thought he overcame it well to win nicely in the end.

He's certainly got more chasing experience than we have, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a concern that we are going there with only one run over fences under our belt, but his Cheltenham experience will count for a lot, and I think he's learnt plenty from his recent schooling sessions.

These are the clashes that you want to be involved in as a jockey, so hopefully we'll have a smooth run between now and next month and can head there with a big chance in one of the opening races of the meeting. 

Before that though, I head to Gowran Park on Saturday for four good rides, with the first of them being Madness d'Elle in the maiden hurdle.

We were pretty happy with how he went on his first run for us when second to a nice horse of Donnacha O'Brien's at Punchestown last month, and I'd say he'll improve plenty with that run under his belt.

It's been well documented all year that a good few of our horses have been taking a run, and the way he shaped the last day would suggest we should see an even better version of Madness d'Elle here.

Arouet of Paddy Twomey's is rated 101 on the Flat, so he'll be an interesting recruit to hurdling, but we have the benefit of the experience over hurdles, so I'd be hopeful we can go one better this time.

Storm Heart runs in the Red Mills Trial Hurdle, the first graded race on the card, and he's a horse I rode plenty in his juvenile days, and I always thought he'd be an improver, but he's just had a few little niggling problems that have meant we haven't seen him on the track as much as we'd have liked.

He did win nicely the last day though at Limerick on heavy ground over two and a half miles, and I'm not concerned about the step back in trip for him here to be truthful as he's always shown plenty of speed.

This looks a good race that should throw up plenty of winners, and Kawaboomga could be the most interesting runner seeing how some of his form has worked out. He wasn't beaten far by Kopek Des Bordes in a maiden hurdle on his first start, and then he came out the next day and beat both William Munny and Koktail Divin, so that's some serious form in the context of any race.

Having said that, he's been off the track a fair while now, so taking on race-fit rivals after 13 months off might be a big ask, but it will be interesting to see how gets on. 

We then have Impaire Et Passe later on the card, and he's a very talented individual that's been very good to me over the years.

Unfortunately, we haven't managed to get him out since he was brought down at the Punchestown Festival, but it will be great to see him back on the track this weekend, and this looks the ideal opportunity for him. He seems in good order at home, and this is a nice trip and a nice track to start him off at, so although he doesn't quite come out best at the weights, I think he's straight enough to do himself justice and start his season with a win. 

My final ride on Saturday is King Alexander, and he looks very solid here with that chasing experience under his belt.

Although the majority of his better form over hurdles was on top of the ground, his runs on testing ground of late have shown he's extremely versatile with regards to underfoot conditions, and that will no doubt stand him in good stead this weekend.

Champagne Jury could be the biggest danger after getting off the mark over hurdles last time, and it's interesting that they are keen to go chasing with him so soon, but he's shown a decent level of ability, and has also proved he handles testing ground, so he'd be entitled to plenty of respect.

Having said that, I'd be very disappointed if King Alexander can't make it third time lucky over fences here.