Slate House claims Sky Bet Supreme Trial Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham

The five-year-old won a maiden hurdle over the course and distance last month and followed up in some style in the Grade Two contest.

Summerville Boy plugged on well for second place but could not quite get to the winner, who was three-quarters of a length to the good and gave trainer Colin Tizzard a double after the victory of Fox Norton in the Shloer Chase.

The sponsors left the winner unchanged at 20/1 for the Cheltenham Festival curtain-raiser in March.

Tizzard said: "He's by Presenting so we were concerned about the going, but he handled it fine.

"It looked like he'd stay further. The favourite (Dame De Compagnie) obviously didn't run its race, but this is a nice, young horse. He's learning his way and is not a world-beater yet, but he's done nothing wrong.

"We now know he's not ground dependent and it looks like he stayed on well, so a fast-run two miles might be ideal. He's a gorgeous-looking horse and has done nothing wrong. We'll have to mind him."

Cobden said: "It was a messy race. They took two hurdles out in the straight [because of low sun] before we started, and we sort of crawled towards the stands the first time, and there was no gallop on.

"I thought, 'This lad's a three-mile point-to-pointer', so rather than wrestle him I let him bowl on and do it himself, which wasn't really what I had had in my head, but he bowled away lovely, winged the last and we turned in and there were flags and whistles as we bypassed the [dolled off] hurdles.

"For a horse only having his second run on a proper racetrack, it was a little bit for him to think about it, and he idled a bit in front. He's quite a sensitive horse and it wasn't ideal when I was trying to get him going forward. But when one came to him he picked up nicely. He's a nice horse.

"I'd say he's a very smart horse. I don't know how far he's going to go, but he's won a Grade Two and I'd say he's won it comfortably. He'll probably end up wanting three miles and fences one day, but he's a lovely prospect."

Jockey Adrian Heskin was happy with the performance of Summerville Boy, who finished the three-quarter length runner-up.

The 16/1 shot travelled well through the soft ground and moved into second place as the field turned for home with no hurdles left to jump, after the two hurdles in the home straight had been taken out before the race due to low sun.

The five-year-old battled well up the hill and couldn't quite get to the winner but his jockey was perfectly happy with the way the race panned out.

Heskin said: "It was a nice run. The most important thing today was to get him to settle and he's done that nicely. We'll be able to do more work with him from now on. He was a bumper winner on soft so today's going was fine for him."

Noel Fehily was pleased with the run of the Nicky Richards-trained Better Getalong (7/1), who finished third.

Fehily said: "He ran very well. The hurdles' issue was the same for everyone, but I thought he ran a good race. He is still a fairly immature horse, but I thought this was a good level of form for his first run at Cheltenham.

"He won well on his first start of the season at Ayr and that was another good run here today."

Related horse racing links

• Sky Bet's Cheltenham Gold Cup odds
• Free horse racing betting tips
• All today's racecards
• Today's fast results
• Today's full results
• Non-runners
• Today's Goings
• Today's Naps Table
• ABC Guide