Inglis Drever - Cheltenham decision awaited.

By

Inglis Drever landed the Axminster Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton under a positive ride from Tony McCoy and connections now have to decide whether to let him take his chance in the Smurfit Champion Hurdle.

With Ireland dominating the ante-post market for the Festival feature, Inglis Drever could join Rooster Booster as Britain's main hopes of keeping the prize at home.

Winner of the Haydock Champion Hurdle Trial on his previous start for County Durham trainer Howard Johnson, Inglis Drever (11-10) and McCoy had to cut out their own running in this Grade Two contest on a course which did not suit his style of racing.

The six-year-old set a strong pace, but over each of the last three flights - and particularly at the last - Inglis Drever veered to the left and McCoy did well to straighten him up.

The combination prevailed by five lengths and a length and a half from Perouse and Royal Shakespeare.

Bookmaker reaction was mixed, with Coral keeping Inglis Drever at 14-1 for the Champion while Paddy Power cut him from 20-1 into 14s.

Owner Graham Wylie, paying his first visit to the course, said: "He's been beaten by two very good horses this season in Harchibald and Back In Front and showed himself to be a class horse today, although he is more of a stamina horse.

"I would still think a Champion Hurdle bid might be in doubt."

McCoy added: "He had to make the pace and go as fast as he could, but this drying ground would not have been ideal.

"I think that unless it's soft at Cheltenham he might not run, and that the Martell Hurdle over the longer distance at Aintree is ideal for him.

"Nobody wanted to make it so I decided to let him bowl along. I'd spoken to Graham Lee last night and he said that I should be ready for him to go left. Obviously he'll be better on a left-handed course."

Johnson, speaking from Haydock Park, said: "We had to go out and make it today with it being a sharp track. He's run a hell of a race and is a star.

"I'm surprised he's jumped left because there should be nothing hurting him - we had him scanned this week.

"That will have put him right. The top five in the Champion Hurdle betting are all Irish and it would be nice to come up the hill and surprise them, but that is going to take some doing.

"He's still a Champion Hurdle horse, but I will have to see what Royal Rosa is doing - he's in at Kempton on Friday. I could still step this fellow up to three miles."

Paul Nicholls has ruled out a Champion Hurdle tilt by Rigmarole, who could never get competitive and eventually finished fourth, but the trainer is keen to let Perouse take his chance.

He said: "It looks like Rigmarole will struggle a bit, but I was delighted with Perouse. We thought he'd come on for the run and we'll have to run him at Cheltenham after this.

"But you can't get away from the fact that it'll be hard to beat the Irish."

Steve Gollings, trainer of Royal Shakespeare, added: "I think he didn't run up to his true form, but the ground wasn't exactly in his favour. I'm still keen to let him take his chance in the Champion."