Racing Newbury preview: Some interesting young horses take their chance in today's Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury, but none more so than Strong Flow. He may be only a novice but he is held in the highest regard in the immensely powerful yard of Paul Nicholls.

His trainer toyed with the idea of going for a novice event here tomorrow, but has opted to let him take his chance in the big one.

It is easy to see why. He is on a favourable handicap mark, and relatively inexperienced horses have a history of running well in this event. He certainly won't be running off that sort of rating in the future if he lives up to expectations.

The only blot in his copybook came when he fell at Aintree in October, but he showed he had suffered no ill effects when winning at Newton Abbot next time.

It was only an ordinary race, but the way he went about his business was nothing short of breathtaking.

A Hennessy is a different kettle of fish, of course, but Strong Flow looks to have all the tools necessary to do the job, and Ruby Walsh has all the experience to get the best out of his mount.

Baracouda should record yet another success in the Ballymore Properties Long Distance Hurdle. The French raider has had his seasonal reappearance delayed on account of fast ground, but conditions will be much more suitable and he is hard to oppose, even though his main rival, Deano's Beeno, loves it here.

Robert Alner has a Gold Cup horse on his hands in the shape of Kingscliff, but he can score with one of his lesser lights in the Ladbrokes.com Handicap Chase.

While it is probably fair to say that Cracking Dawn is not in the class of his stablemate, he showed plenty of promise on his sole start as a novice. He has been off for a year since, so his fitness has to be taken on trust, but he is still only a eight-year-old and looks interesting nonetheless.

Nicholls can bag a double through Sporazene in the Stan James-sponsored Gerry Feilden Hurdle. Winner of two of his four starts over timber, the Cozzene gelding looked very good indeed when taking a Grade One event at Punchestown in May.

He could be Champion Hurdle class and, that being the case, should be good enough here.

Hughie Morrison does extremely well with the few jumpers he has and he can bag a nice prize with Tom Paddington at Newbury tomorrow.

His eight-year-old was a promising young hurdler a few years ago but an injury sustained when second to Quel Senor here in February 1999 curtailed his career.

He returned to the track only in October last year, recording a 25 to 1 success back at Newbury.

His latest run on the level saw him again travel really well for a long way before staying on to be fifth, beaten just two lengths in a two-mile affair at Newmarket.

He returns to hurdling race-fit and if he can take to it again with the same relish as before he must go close in the £20,000 Hennessy Cognac Hurdle.