He may have had eleven stone twelve on his back but Benash goes well on heavy ground and he made light of his big burden to comfortably win the Cheltenham Trial Day 20th February Handicap Hurdle at Naas under Andrew McNamara. William Wordsworth made a bold bid to follow-up his course and distance win from almost a fortnight back but once headed before the last by Benash he had no more to give and it was left to the veteran cross-country star Garde Champetre to come through for the runner-up berth.

Winning trainer John Carr said: "He is a good horse on heavy ground. We said before today that if he won we'd give him an entry in the Coral Cup and the Martin Pipe conditional riders handicap hurdle at Cheltenham. After that now he should get into one of those."

Successful owner James Hepburn is Glasgow-based. Meanwhile the gamble of this two miler was Harold's Cross (8s this morning into 11/4) but he could manage no better than seventh place.