Zabadi is heavily backed for Triumph

ZABADI leapt to the front of the Triumph Hurdle betting as he finally fulfilled early expectations with an impressive first victory at Kempton yesterday.

The former John Oxx trained horse turned his previous jumping form upside down when he eased to an 11 lengths success in the Walton Juvenile Novices Hurdle.

Twice beaten more than 20 lengths by Ocean Hawk, yesterday's meeting proved a no contest - as Zabadi passed that rival on the bit two out on his way to an emphatic win.

As a result Coral slashed his odds for the Cheltenham juvenile crown to 8 to 1 from 25 to 1. He is now 12 to 1 joint favourite with William Hill after some heavy wagers at 16 to 1.

The performance by Zabadi Justified trainer David Nicholson's high hopes for the four year old at the start of the season but prompted no inquiry by the stewards into improvement in form.

"He has always worked like a good horse at home, the best of anything I've got bar none," explained Nicholson.

"But he was awful at Ascot and after running at Devon he blew as if he had never been on a race course in his life. What's happened here, I don't know. His flat form was good and I just couldn't understand what was going wrong.

Castle Sweep completed a double for Nicholson and Adrian Maguire when landing the second division of the Extra Daylight Novices Hurdle easing down by 5 lengths.

Now unbeaten in five starts, the five year old is Cheltenham bound and his trainer has taken the precaution of entering him in the Champion Hurdle, for which Coral's give him a 20 to 1 quote.

"He's in the Champion but he will probably run in the Supreme Novices Hurdle, though I not ruling anything out," Nicholson added.

Castle Sweep also secured a first ever double for owner Lord Vestey, who took the first division with Karshi.

Karshi ended the Champion Hurdle aspirations of River North by beating that rival by a length and a quarter and initiate a double for Henrietta Knight who also struck with Toureen Prince.

While Karshi could now meet Castle Sweep at Cheltenham, River North looks set to return to the flat following this second defeat.

Great Easeby, who is being aimed at Cheltenham's Gold Card Final, rewarded Wilf Storey for making the 300 mile dip mouth from Durham, his first Kempton visit for 25 years, when landing the Royal Mail Handicap Hurdle by six lengths.