Last season's Triumph Hurdle hero could make his seasonal debut in the re-opened, two-and-a-half mile contest after connections of the Philip Hobbs-trained four-year-old decided not to head to Cheltenham for last Sunday's Greatwood Hurdle won by Elgin.
Owner JP McManus has a second string to his bow in the admirable My Tent Or Yours, but trainer Nicky Henderson has revealed he will only run if Defi Du Seuil does not.
Henderson was at Newbury on Tuesday morning to see Champion Hurdle hero Buveur D'Air enjoy a racecourse gallop, from where he said: "He (My Tent Or Yours) is fine and worked at home. He has been leading Buveur D'Air quite a bit and is pretty forward.
"He is in at Ascot on Saturday. He's not going to go there, but is there as a back-up. If Defi Du Seuil was to tread on a stone, we have got cover for him. That is literally the only reason as far as I am concerned that he is in there.
"The International (Cheltenham, December 16) is still the plan. If he wasn't in on Saturday, he would have come here.
"He's loving it. There is a fair bit of wear and tear in bits of his body, but he is in great form and worked beautifully on Saturday.
"He has been working with Buveur D'Air for the last three weeks and I gave him a slightly nicer piece of work with two horses that you would expect him to beat and he absolutely hammered them."
Henderson has also entered L'Ami Serge and Top Notch, both owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.
Neil King's Lil Rockerfeller, runner-up to the McManus-owned Yanworth in this race 12 months ago, is in the mix along with the Paul Nicholls-trained Irving, Warren Greatrex's Dicosimo, Dan Skelton's Value At Risk and Karl Burke's Intense Tango.
Completing the 10 is the Karl Thornton-trained Wakea, who is the only Irish possible.
Related horse racing links
