Paisley Park does just enough to whet his Festival appetite

The charismatic eight-year-old faced a stern challenge from a different bunch of pretenders to his staying-hurdle crown but dealt with them as he always does; winning not by a huge margin but with his ears pricked and, metaphorically, twiddling his thumbs.

This time he beat Summerville Boy by a length and a quarter. Lavelle and her husband, Barry Fenton, know him so well they find watching him easier these days. For those less familiar with him, there was a moment, late on, when he looked in trouble as Summerville Boy and Lisnagar Oscar fought out the lead. But the champion was merely winding up.

He then hit top gear, jumped past the front-running Summerville Boy at the last and was always doing enough up the run-in. So far on his winning run, which now amounts to seven races, nothing has yet got to him.

"He doesn't hit the flat spot like he used to," said Lavelle. "To a certain extent he's dictated to by what's going on around him, but I love those ears - as soon as they go forward. I think I love him. He's getting better."

Earlier, Lavelle's Ladbrokes Trophy winner De Rasher Counter finished a distant fourth in the Paddy Power Cotswold Chase, not quite bridging the gap between handicapper and Gold Cup pretender - or not yet at least. However, over 30 lengths ahead of him the winner of the race, Santini, put himself in the mix for jump racing's blue riband when he beat Bristol de Mai.

The eight-year-old - runner-up in last year's RSA - is now 7-1 second favourite behind Al Boum Photo for his return to Cheltenham in March.

It was a huge improvement on his only other start this season, an underwhelming win at Sandown in November. But if, as the connections of Bristol de Mai contended, their horse had run very nearly to his best, then it may be a better trial than it will get credit for.

Certainly, Santini was doing his best work up the hill in the last couple of hundred yards. He will be aided by an extra furlong in March, a bit like Paisley Park, as he doesn't do much more than he needs. Stamina is not the problem; it is just a case of whether something else gets the trip a bit quicker on the day.

"There are a lot of protagonists but I think we're one of them," said trainer Nicky Henderson. "It's a step forward, 200 per cent better than Sandown.

"We had a dreadful run-in to the Festival with him last year so we need to get lucky with a good prep. Bristol de Mai is a good yardstick, some will say Cheltenham's not his favourite place but it looked a good race. The better the ground the better Santini will be."

Selected out to book Festival ticket

Carefully Selected is out to make sure of his ticket to the Cheltenham Festival when he makes a swift return to action at Naas today.

The Willie Mullins-trained eight-year-old is the ante-post favourite for the National Hunt Chase after impressing on his first two starts over fences this season, most recently dominating his rivals in a Grade Three contest over two and a half miles at Punchestown.

However, updated race conditions announced last summer stated that to qualify for the National Hunt Chase, a horse must have finished in the first four in a chase staged over an extended two miles and seven-and-a-half furlongs or further, which Carefully Selected has not.

With the clock ticking, Mullins has been left with little option but to turn his charge out just a fortnight after his Punchestown triumph in this weekend’s three-mile Grade Three.

Carefully Selected was not entered for either the RSA Chase or the Marsh Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham earlier this week, meaning the National Hunt Chase is his only option. He will have to concede weight to each of his rivals today, which include his stablemate Small Farm, Gordon Elliott’s Elwood and Matthew Smith’s stable star Ronald Pump.

The other Grade Three on the card is the Limestone Lad Hurdle, which was won last season by subsequent Champion Hurdle hero Espoir D’Allen.

This year’s field is headed by Australian raider Big Blue, who is trained in partnership by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace and will be ridden by Rachael Blackmore.