A superstar who continued his unbeaten streak here at Cheltenham in January, albeit with a slight scare at the last hurdle. Landing 10 wins in a row and returning in December after a 12-month absence due to  respiratory problems and a bout of colic, he silenced any doubters on his return when landing the Christmas hurdle for the second year in a row.

Ending Lossiemouth’s 7-timer attempt, they’re set to clash again in the Champion Hurdle, with Constitution Hill looking machine-like and searching for his 11^th consecutive victory.

A top-class chaser who has only lost 2 of his 14 chase starts, but with both of his losses coming at Cheltenham in 2024 and 2023, it naturally raises concerns. Looking for third-time lucky at the festival and with solid preparation under his belt when winning the Clarence House last month by an impressive 6 ½ lengths, he looks well on his way to becoming a champion.

Making all and beating Energumene convincingly, who has won the Champion Chase twice, Nicky Henderson is confident he can get the job done this year and put all the speculation to bed in this year’s Champion Chase renewal.

Adapting plans for Nicky Henderson have found Lucky Place entered into the Stayers Hurdle after supposedly being set to take his racing over fences. A regime in which Lucky Place has thrived under and he is now one of Henderson’s top picks at an appealing price.

Although the 3m trip poses new territory for Lucky Place, his performances over 2m4f of late have been impressive. Finding extra in the latter stages and securing back-to-back wins at Ascot and in the Relkeel at Cheltenham, his preparation for the festival couldn’t have gone better, and his connections are confident he stays 3m. He’s one to watch for the festival.

Picked up by Nicky Henderson in January this year after a promising debut at Auteuil when winning comfortably, he backed up this performance on his stable debut at Ascot and looks a promising addition to the yard. He travelled extremely well for Nico de Boinville and showed a great turn of foot.

Although only seeing a racecourse twice in his career, expectations are high for this gelding, and it’s looking likely Nicky Henderson will be sending Lulamba over stablemate Palladium to the Triumph Hurdle at the festival.

Referred to as the ‘super sub’ taking the place of Sir Gino, who is ruled out due to an infection, Jango Baie isn’t just making up the numbers and is a real threat in the Arkle. Usually seen racing over 2m4f,  he’s a versatile sort who could be stepped up or down in trip, but given the circumstances, he has been pulled back to 2m for the Arkle.

This isn’t unchartered territory considering he has won over 1m7f and 2m trips (hurdles), and after landing a comfortable 6 ½ length victory here at Cheltenham in December when beating Springwell Bay, who has since recorded a wide margin victory himself, this only boosts Jango Baie’s claims in the Arkle.