Quel Destin crashes into Triumph Hurdle reckoning

Quel Destin shook up the betting for the Triumph Hurdle with a battling success at Cheltenham, sparking a Paul Nicholls double.

Having run out a facile winner on his second British start at Kempton last month, the French import continued his rise through the ranks, taking the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle.

With the ground less quick than it was at Kempton and with plenty of juice in the ground to suit, Quel Destin (10/3) took the step up to Grade Two company in his stride defeating Cracker Factory (3/1) by a length and a quarter, the pair having jumped upsides at the last.

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The winner, ridden by Harry Cobden, was introduced at 16/1 for the Triumph Hurdle by GentingBet.

Nicholls said: “I was hopeful he would beat the Jane Williams’ horse (Montestrel), who beat him first time out at Chepstow (with a 4lb pull at the weights this time), but I don’t think that horse has run its race at all.

“He improved enormously from Chepstow to Kempton and he has improved again from Kempton.

“He is a strong stayer and he jumped well. I always thought he had a good chance today, as if they went a bit quicker it would do him no harm.

“He will go to Doncaster next month (Grade Two Summit Juvenile Hurdle), then we will make a plan. We’ve got the Grade One at Chepstow as well and he wouldn’t mind the bottomless ground there, we know that wouldn’t be an issue. He will need a holiday at some point.”

Cracker Factory’s trainer, Alan King, suggested that a rematch might be on the cards at Town Moor.

He said: “I was very pleased with him and there are no excuses. It was probably his best run yet. I thought going to the last he would probably win, but Paul’s horse just kept finding.

“I’ll probably keep him ticking over and go to Doncaster next month. If he doesn’t, he will have a break and be back in the spring.”

Nicholls and Cobden were on the mark again in the Mallardjewellers.com Novices’ Chase, as Ibis Du Rheu (11/2) came with a withering late run to beat the long-time leader Theatre Territory (8/1) by a length.

Cobden proved patient on the seven-year-old who was having his first run since April, timing his run to perfection, delivering him over the last in the extended three-mile contest, to beat the mare by a length.

Nicholls admitted: “I never had him right last year for some reason, but he has improved. Today, in the paddock, I knew he was right.

“The ground was heavy last season, which he hated, and he is much better on better ground – he gallops all day on that and he was fit today.

“I said to John Hales (owner) that he will be a great horse to run in the four-miler at the Festival and one day he will be a National horse.

“We could enter him this year at Aintree, as it is his third season over fences. He is a horse we can have a lot of fun with now he is right.”

Rock The Kasbah gave champion jockey Richard Johnson his 128th winner of the season when Rock The Kasbah landed the BetVictor.com Handicap Chase (9/1).

Johnson bided his time aboard the Philip Hobbs-trained eight-year-old, who had signed off last season with a distant second in the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown.

Although he was downed as a favourite in his seasonal bow at Chepstow, he benefitted from the outing and was a different proposition here, as Johnson took advantage between the third and second-last to over-power long-time leader Coneygree and had enough in reserve to repel the late thrust of Royal Vacation (14/1) to score by a length and a quarter.

Coneygree, the Gold Cup winner in 2015, was having just his sixth outing since, having been beset by injury problems, and ran a cracker in third (12/1).

He said: “His jumping was fantastic, which is always a great plus here. I’m delighted with him. He was disappointing (at Chepstow), but the race has worked out really well since.

“Maybe as he got older he has just needed a run, but he was all right today. We will have the National in mind, as good ground suits him, and I suppose we ought to work back from that.”

She said: “I’m nearly in tears. To have him back is wonderful. He did what he does best and the ground was plenty fast enough.

“He had every right to be a bit tired – look at the way he stayed on when he got tired for third.

“He could possibly go for the King George. We will see how comes out of this. He has not made it through December before without going lame.

“The overreach at Wetherby, that’s what really stopped him last season, as it was so deep. I was a bit worried with the other horse hassling him, but he just got better and better.

“He is a real proper competitor that just wants to be out there.

“I really think it was (as emotional as Gold Cup win), as we have been down and out with him. He got that overreach and that really robbed us of a year and we know he needed that wind op.

“He is an 11-year-old, but he has not got many miles on the clock.”