Double Thriller passed his final Cheltenham Gold Cup examination with a satisfactory performance to take the Jim Ford Challenge Cup Chase by a distance at Wincanton yesterday. Gold Cup sponsors the Tote kept Paul Nicholls's charge at 8 to 1 for the Festival showpiece, while William Hill came into line by trimming the nine-year-old from 10 to 1 to the same price.
Joe Tizzard opted to make the extended three-miler a true test and sent Double Thriller into an early lead and though his jumping was not foot-perfect at every obstacle, he was a fence in front of his closest pursuer Wayward King at the last before scoring eased down.
However, Nicholls shrugged aside any criticism of the performance, saying: "Apart from doing triple handstands and waving at the crowd, what more could he do? I'm quite happy with that."
Double Thriller had proved quite a handful in the preliminaries but Nicholls poured cold water over any suggestion he could boil over at Cheltenham. Meanwhile, Tizzard stated categorically he was more than happy to be riding Double Thriller at Cheltenham rather than either of his stablemates, saying: "I rode him there last April when he beat Teeton Mill and I'm pleased I'll be riding him in the Gold Cup."
Champion Hurdle hope Grey Shot remains on target for the race despite proving unimpressive in victory in the Axminster 100 Kingwell Hurdle.
Ian Balding's charge was far from fluent at a few hurdles and in the end had to be driven out by Jamie Osborne to hold off Midnight Legend by two and a half lengths. He remains a 25 to 1 chance with Hills for the hurdling crown.
At Huntingdon, Dangerus Precedent gave his Elite Racing Club Triumph Hurdle hopes a boost with an impressive performance in the National Letterbox Marketing Juvenile Novices' Hurdle. The Charlie Egerton-trained gelding made most of the running under a confident ride from Dean Gallagher and easily shook off Albrighton, who had joined him two out, to win by three and a half lengths.
Summer Bounty gave Lambourn trainer Barry Hills his 2,000th career success with an easy win in the Sea of HEAT & Space Air Maiden at Lingfield yesterday. Ridden by 5lb claimer Alan Eddery, the 5 to 6 favourite came home nine lengths clear.
