CHELTENHAM COUNTDOWN

5 WEEKS TO GO

Eight-time champion jockey PETER SCUDAMORE’S verdict on the weekend action…

SAMCRO IT’S hard not to be taken by the performance of unbeaten Samcro at Leopardstown. He beat a clutch of very useful rivals in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle and jockey Jack Kennedy did not have to release the handbrake. He will be very hard to beat. CLAIMANTAKINFORGAN THERE are big question marks about him for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle after he was beaten at Musselburgh by Beyond The Clouds. Excuses about the ground only go so far. RED RIVER THE pick of the Musselburgh trial winners. Potentially better on faster ground, he has a fair shot at the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.