Ben Jones Saturday rides blog: 'He's favourite to win the race and I have to say I agree'

2.15 - Kelso - Starmount

Starmount is my first of two rides on Saturday at Kelso, in a good novices' hurdle. He's a very nice horse who has won both of his novices' in quite some fashion. He ran in a Grade 1 at Aintree on Boxing Day, and I know it's a bit of a cliche saying the hurdles were out and wouldn't have helped him, but they really wouldn't have. He never got into a rhythm on that day and it just wasn't anywhere near him at his best. I'm not saying he'd have gone and won at his best, but I knew there was more to come from him.

I had a great feel off him the last day at Wetherby, and I schooled him on Thursday morning so can see he's very fresh and ready to go. I'll be very much looking forward to getting on him on Saturday - he's favourite to win the race at the minute and I'd have to say I agree with that. 

4.00 - Kelso - Vivre Le Reve

I've then got a juvenile called Vivre Le Reve who came over from France with a good reputation. Our juveniles usually take a run or two to get into the swing of things over here, and that was the case with him at Wetherby the last day. He travelled through the race and jumped really well, I just had to look after him in the end. Hopefully he can show a bit more of his French form, and if he does, he shouldn't be too far away either. He finishes the day for me, so not many rides, but a good bit of quality, so I'm hopeful with both of my chances.

Constitution Hill

I think Nicky Henderson has had many, many hard decisions and calls to make over the years, and it's very rare he's made the wrong one. I don't think he's made the wrong one here either, really; obviously Constitution Hill is the peoples' horse, and God forbid if something went wrong at Cheltenham, then a) Nicky would probably never forgive himself, and b) the public would probably find it hard as well, which isn't a good sight on racing. 

So as much as I'd have loved to have seen him run in the Champion Hurdle, and I'm sure he would have won it if he'd have stayed on his feet, we've got to have the horse's welfare at the forefront of everything. I'm guessing schooling can't have gone as planned, because if he schooled very well, I would have thought they would have chanced their arm and ran him. They obviously can't have been 100% happy with him, and they didn't want any doubt. 

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