Thyme Hill kicked off the Cheltenham November meeting with an impressive win in the Grade 2 Ballymore Novices' Hurdle under Richard Johnson.
The race was saved from the abandoned Friday card and Philip Hobbs' horse was a very well-backed 11/8 favourite to follow-up his win in the Persian War.
Third in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival, he continued the winning start to his hurdling career with a fluent performance, staying on well up the hill to win by three lengths.
Sky Bet cut him to 12/1 from 20/1 for the Grade One Ballymore Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, while he's 16/1 from 25s for the Albert Bartlett.
Hobbs said: "He is not the biggest in the world, but he is very genuine and tough. He copes with the soft ground and I suppose the obvious race is the Challow Hurdle. I would imagine that's where he would be going.
"He jumped fantastically well at Chepstow and he was good here in the second half of the race, while he stays very well. There were good horses in behind and he has done it very well.
🌿 Mint performance from Thyme!
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THYME HILL justifies favouritism to get the Cheltenham November meeting under way in style...pic.twitter.com/er6gATH6MI
"I'm sure he would jump a fence, although he is not overly big. Horses like Massini's Maguire that won this were built to jump a fence, but he didn't jump them that well, whereas he is very neat and he would probably jump a fence well, but that is a long way down the line.
"If the Cheltenham Festival is on good ground, I would have thought he would need three miles and he will have no problem with that.
"He is not the sort of horse you would want to run every week. I think we go to the Challow, then straight to the Cheltenham Festival, but nothing is set in stone.
"He is not the sort of horse that needs a lot of work either. Giving them all weight of course is a concern, but he proved he is good enough and we are relieved and delighted."
