Celestial Halo on course for Cheltenham Festival 2010

Although away for the Breeders’ Cup it was great to read that Celestial Halo won on his reappearance at Wincanton in the Grade 2 Elite Hurdle, where he confirmed his credentials as a leading contender for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival 2010.

Carrying top weight Celestial Halo galloped on strongly to assert in typically willing fashion up the straight, beating Mamlook by ten lengths. I love the toughness of this horse and I reckon this is pretty good form. It will be interesting to see how Mamlook performs in the coming weeks, starting with the Greatwood Hurdle on Sunday.

Next stop is likely to be the Bula Hurdle in December at Cheltenham, where he runs so well.

Having been advised here at 14/1 he now trades as low as 6/1 although 8/1 is still available with Paddy Power and others. I think this is still a fair price and won that will contract further if he wins again at Cheltenham in December. Celestial Halo beat Binocular at Cheltenham in last year’s Champion Hurdle and yet the latter is trading at a best price 9/2, despite not having made his reappearance. In all probability Binocular has trained on but at least with Celestial Halo we now that for sure.