Why Stratford is the perfect place to start your Cheltenham Festival week

Iberico Lord was in the headlines this week after being supplemented for Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle. The JP McManus six-year-old has certainly come a long way since I witnessed his first win in Britain last April.

Only one of Iberico Lord’s five rivals in that Stratford novice hurdle was sent off a bigger price and, after the 9-1 shot rallied in the closing stages to score by a head, Nicky Henderson told me the experience “will have done him the world of good”.

The trainer’s assessment has been emphatically borne out with Iberico Lord landing the Greatwood and Betfair Hurdle this season, major handicap successes that are indicative of the educational benefits Stratford – a sharp track primarily associated with summer jumping – provides.