Shotgun Willy fired a warning to chasing`s established top rank with a devastating display of fencing at Newbury today.
He continued his rise through the ranks as he hammered the opposition in the Elizabeth Hitchins Memorial Novices` Chase.
The six-year-old, now unbeaten in his last five outings, strolled to a 15-length defeat of Take Control in the #29,000 Grade Two event.
It was good enough to prompt talk of a possible bid at this season`s Tote Gold Cup.
Trainer Paul Nicholls, however, insisted that if Shotgun Willy does go to the Festival it will be for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase for which he is quoted at 4-1 by Coral.
'He is a novice and we`ll take it easy with him as we did last year,' said Nicholls.
'If he goes to Cheltenham it will be for the Sun Alliance but only if the ground is genuinely soft. He will not run there unless the ground is soft. 'We looked after him last year when we did not overdo it and will do so again this year. We do not want to over race him and he will have two more runs this year, one before Cheltenham.'
Nicholls was pleased with the manner of Shotgun Willy`s success and paid tribute to jockey Joe Tizzard.
'It`s the first time he`s really been in a ruck and it`s done him good. Joe gave him a brilliant ride and he needed a winner after a bit of a lean spell.'
'Shotgun Willy has been a chaser from day one and all he has jumped at home is fences. We started him on baby fences and he is a real jumper.'
Nicholls` Double Thriller, fourth in the 1999 Gold Cup, finished a creditable fourth behind Wishbone in the Sunley Novices` Hurdle.
Double Thriller, making his debut over timber, was racing for the first time since undergoing a tie-back operation for a breathing problem.
'I`m very pleased, Joe said if he repeats that performance he would nearly win back over fences,' said Nicholls who has entered Double Thriller in the Pertemps King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. 'Although he is entered in the King George, he will not run in the race. There is a race at Cheltenham in two weeks and there is also the Welsh National and a couple of other handicaps to consider.'
Wishbone is destined to embark on a chasing career, according to his trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.
'He wore them down today and he will be very good when he jumps fences but I don`t know when that will be,' he said.
Valiramix made the most of some good fortune to storm home by 11 lengths from Clandestine in the Tote Jackpot Hurdle.
The 3-1 favourite was handed the race when Rooster Booster, who was more than two lengths up and travelling strongly at the time, crashed at the second last flight.
'It was easy in the end but I don`t know if he`d have won if the other hadn`t fallen,' said Pipe.
'Rooster Booster had looked to be going better but ours carried a lot of weight for a four-year-old and is a lovely horse.'
The race had a sting in the tail for conditional jockey Ciaran Eddery who was banned for seven days for his riding of the Nicky Henderson-trained Perfect Venue (6th).
The stewards took the action after finding Eddery had ridden an ill-judged race.
Henderson told officials he was dissatisfied with the way the horse was ridden and he was found not to be in breach of the rules regarding giving adequate instructions to jockeys.
The trainer had earlier struck with Immaterial in the Q Associates Juvenile Novices` Hurdle.
In a thrilling finish Immaterial got the better of Conwy Castle by a neck.
'He`s brave considering it`s only the second time he`s seen a racecourse,' he said. 'It`s not as though he`s been racing on the Flat.'
'Although he ran green he`s tough and he`s a real stayer in the making.'
Tom George trained his fourth successive winner when High Mood easily took the Lambourn Valley Housing Trust Handicap Chase beating Arlequin De Sou. Townie completed a quick double when landing the Newbury Conditional Jockeys` Novices` Handicap Hurdle after winning a week ago at Kempton.
