Paul Nicholls on Blueking d’Oroux – who has turned a corner since an operation – and his two other horses on the cards at Cheltenham this weekend

Trainer Paul Nicholls has three horses in action at Cheltenham on Saturday, including Blueking d’Oroux in the 13.50.

Hugos New Horse and Soir de Gala are also set to run, with the former highly progressive last season.  

Here, Betfair ambassador Nicholls goes through his three horses set to ride on Saturday.

Paul Nicholls sees Blueking d’Oroux, Hugos New Horse and Soir de Gala go on Saturday

13:50 – Blueking d’Oroux

His first two starts for us had me tearing my hair out but he turned inside out after a wind op mid season and surprised us by winning a competitive handicap at Ascot at 50-1, beating his more fancied stable mate Afadil. Twelve days later he ran his best race to date under a 7lbs penalty against older horses in another hot race at Aintree where he was arguably in front too soon. I hope there is more to come from Blueking d’Oroux who is the top rated horse in this race.

15:00 – Hugos New Horse

He was highly progressive last season, winning five times and now starts the new campaign off a mark of 132. He is likely to go chasing sooner rather than later but first I want to give him the chance to see if has the scope to develop into a smart staying hurdler as I think the step up to almost three miles should not be a problem for him. The trip could even bring out plenty more improvement from him and he is fit and well.

16:45 – Soir de Gala

He’s a nice type who ran with plenty of promise on his debut in a bumper at Wincanton in April and will be going over hurdles before long. He is a big, chasing type for the future and looks as though he has improved physically over the the summer. I’d like to think he can run tidily.

Best chance – Blueking d’Oroux. 13.50. I’m expecting another decent run from a horse with potential.

Nicholls has three charges going at Cheltenham in this weekend’s fixture at the famous course