WHAT'S THE VERDICT heads straight to Cheltenham in a quest for further glory after impressively landing the Peter O'Sullivan Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow on Saturday.
"He'll go straight to stables at Cheltenham now," confided joint owner Seamus O'Farrell. "And we'll wait and see how he comes out of that but the plan is to run him in the Citroen Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Festival on Tuesday."
Given a confident ride by Charlie Swan, the five-year-old, unbeaten in two hurdle starts at home, came with a well-timed run and had taken the measure of Gods Squad at the final flight before that rival fatally broke a fetlock, leaving Motoqua to take second spot.
"He had a lot of petrol left in the tank and I was not really worried about the soft ground as good horses go on anything," added O'Farrell of the winner, who was trainer Aidan O'Brien's first-ever runner at the Welsh track.
The winner was purchased by his current connections out of Mark Johnson's yard two years ago where he was owned by Ron Huggins of Double Trigger fame.
Swan had made arrangements to travel on by helicopter to partner Lady Daisy at Sandown in the Imperial Cup later in the afternoon, but heavy rain at Chepstow made the flight impossible. Instead, accompanied by Richard Dunwoody, Tony McCoy, Norman Williamson and Dean Gallagher, he travelled by car. The journey of over 100 miles is reputed to have taken just 78 minutes and, not surprisingly, none of the quintet was anxious to name the driver.
Lady Daisy ran a fine race to finish fourth to Carlito Brigante in the big Sandown handicap hurdle. The winner may turn out for the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle at Cheltenham on Thursday.
Back at Chepstow, Giventime, not engaged in the Grand National, put a few Aintree hopefuls in their place with a comfortable victory over Belmont King in the Tote Ten to Follow Handicap Chase.
Luke Harvey elected to send the nine-year-old ahead at the 13th fence and the pair kept up the gallop in the straight to beat Belmont King by seven lengths.
Trainer Andy Turnell insisted the winner must have soft ground and though he will be entered for next week's Midlands National at Uttoxeter, the underfoot conditions will have to be in his favour for him to be in the line-up if he comes out of his race in good order.
Paul Nicholls was understandably delighted with Belmont King's performance as he was conceding almost two stone to the winner.
