Teaatral, 10-1 favourite with the sponsors for the Coral Cup at Cheltenham, confirmed his well-being with a courageous victory in the Rendlesham Hurdle at Kempton today.
The Charlie Egerton-trained gelding showed that two miles five furlongs with a finish up Cheltenham's testing hill is well within his powers with a determined display over three miles.
Merry Masquerade, who threatened the leader in the home straight, was one and three-quarters behind in second place with Effectual another length and a quarter further away third.
Egerton warned that the six-year-old might not run at Cheltenham at all if the ground dried up next month.
'He needs either a fast pace or slow ground', admitted the Chaddleworth trainer.
'The softer the better. I wouldn't run Teaatral in the Coral Cup if the ground dried up - he will have a lot of weight in the race.'
Egerton reported his stable's Irish Independent Arkle Trophy hope, Decoupage, as 'beginning to flourish' and 'coming back to himself every day' after a virus.
It was a fine day all round for Egerton as he landed a 38-1 across-the-card treble with Telecaster (5-1) at Southwell and Catherine's Way (11-8) at Market Rasen adding to his 7-4 Kempton scorer.
Irbee booked his place in Paul Nicholls's strong team for the Festival with an easy victory in the Emblem Chase.
The eight-year-old's likely target is the Grand Annual Chase following his 11-length win over Chief's Song.
'Irbee has worn blinkers for his last two or three outings and they seem to have helped him' said Nicholls.
'He tends to switch off in his races. His jumping is sharper when he is wearing them. He'll run in the Grand Annual so long as the ground is not too soft'.
George Yardley must be hoping that Irbee runs in the Grand Annual rather than the Mildmay Of Flete as he has the latter race in mind for River Wye following his 22-length win from Big Matt in the Portlane Handicap Chase.
William O'Dee set the early pace, but River Wye swept into the lead on the second circuit and only Big Matt was able to stay even remotely in touch.
'River Wye is just a brave horse,' said Yardley. 'He jumped like a stag and needs two and a half miles.'
There is a slight chance that Teaatral could face the novice Solo Mio in the Coral Cup.
After Alan King's emerging hurdler won the Weekender Novices' Hurdle by 19 lengths from Derrintogher Yank, the trainer joked that he would check the weights. However, the Royal & SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle is a more likely target.
Upper Lambourn trainer Jon Akehurst is to aim Pietro Bembo at the Sunderlands Imperial Cup at Sandown on March 11 thanks to his short-head success over Golden Goal in the Coral Eurobet Hurdle. -PA
