Cheltenham Festival – Buveur D’Air and Top Notch put themselves right into contention for the Festival with victories at Sandown
Buveur D'Air hardly had to come out of first gear to take the Contenders Hurdle while Top Notch was impressive when winning the Scilly Isles Chase on Saturday
NICKY HENDERSON was walking on Air after two of his big guns fired a double-barrelled Cheltenham warning.
Buveur D’Air – switched from fences after a brace of novice chase wins – cruised to victory in Sandown’s Contenders Hurdle. He remains on course for next month’s Champion Hurdle.
Little over half an hour later Top Notch gave Henderson Grade 1 glory in the Scilly Isles Chase.
If it wasn’t for a shock change of plan earlier in the week, Buveur D’Air might well have taken on his stablemate in the big novices’ chase.
The decision to revert to hurdling now looks a masterstroke with the Champion Hurdle waters about as clear as Sandown’s famous pond.
The red-hot 1-4 favourite hardly broke sweat to defeat Rayvin Black by a length-and-a-half under Barry Geraghty.
The winning distance barely mattered and he was cut to 9-2 for the Festival thriller by Sun Bets. Faugheen – not seen for more than a year – heads the betting at 7-4.
Henderson said: “I think that’s earned him his Cheltenham ticket. He’s done nothing wrong over fences but he’s very good at this. I thought it was worth a shot.
“We didn't learn a lot. I just think at this stage he might be a sharper hurdler than chaser.
“He couldn’t win any easier than that – we’re on the right road.”
Top Notch is a 10-1 shot for the JLT Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham after extending his winning streak to four.
He picked up front-running Baron Alco going to the last fence and stormed away by five lengths for jockey Daryl Jacob.
Henderson said: “When we started off chasing it was just an experiment. We found him a couple of nice easy races and now he’s winging around like he could do it in his sleep.
“He loved the two-and-a-half miles so that’s answered another question.”
The biggest cheer of the day came from the owners of bargain buy Lord Of The Island.
The successful syndicate - crammed into the winners’ enclosure – picked up more than three times the £9,000 he cost when grinding out victory in the big handicap hurdle.
It was another victory for Gloucestershire trainer Fergal O’Brien after he recently passed his best seasonal tally. He’s now just one short of his first half-century.
Assistant trainer Sally Randell said: “Willy Twiston-Davies gave him a tremendous ride. We knew he was well in, knew he would stay and knew he would love the ground.”