TAQUIN Du Seuil bounced back to form at the scene of his finest of hour to give trainer Jonjo O'Neill a much-needed winner with victory in the BetVictor Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

Having won just once since his 2014 JLT Novices' Chase triumph at the Festival, the nine-year-old showed he still retains plenty of ability as he lifted the Grade 3 contest, presenting Jackdaws Castle handler O'Neill with his first winner of the month.

Although much of the focus before the race centered on the winner's stablemate and former World Hurdle winner More Of That, who was sent off the 7-2 favourite, his chances were over a long way out with Barry Geraghty sending out distress signals more than a mile from home.

After enjoying the run of the race out in front from the word go, Village Vic was joined by the strong-travelling Aso rounding the home turn, with Taquin Du Seuil a couple of lengths back in third in a breakaway group of three.

With Aso making a costly mistake at the last, it looked as though Village Vic was on track to claim a third course win but as the post loomed, the Philip Hobbs-trained runner could not quite last out, with 8-1 chance Taquin Du Seuil collaring him by a neck in the final strides. Last year's runner-up Buywise stayed on from the back of the field to finish a further two lengths away in third.

O'Neill, celebrating his third win in the race, said: "I feel very good. He did everything right. He travelled well and the drop of rain helped last night. The plan went together well. He was in great form at home and he had a lovely prep run at Chepstow and had no hiccups since then.

"Turning for home I thought he was in trouble, but he did keep galloping. He loves this place which also helps. (With) the drop of rain last night, my prayers were answered. He needs a really good gallop and you do get a good gallop in those better handicaps. By the water I was thinking Aidan (Coleman) needed to be handier.

"We will probably come back here in a month's time. I need to talk to the owners first but that's the first thing that comes into my mind.

On More Of That, he added: "More Of That was very disappointing I really don't know what happened. I don't know if the wind operation worked or not. He had been going great at home but he was beaten a long way out."

Coleman said: "The middle part of the race, I was not happy and it was a salvage operation and turning down the back, I was not happy with everything. To be fair, coming down the hill he came alive, but the middle part of the race was touch and go.

"I've had a tough couple of weeks with injuries but I'm here now and I'm very happy. Jonjo is a fantastic man to ride for."

UNBEATEN RECORD

Thistlecrack overcame a couple of hairy moments to easily maintain his unbeaten record over fences in the mallardjewellers.com Novices' Chase. Last season's champion staying hurdler took off too early at a couple of open ditches, but soon recovered and won in convincing style.

Irish challenger Marinero made the early running but Tom Scudamore decided to take Colin Tizzard's extremely talented performer to the front with a circuit left. From then on Thistlecrack's overall jumping improved and though Marinero closed the gap briefly, the issue was never in doubt. The 1-7 shot won as he liked by three and three-quarter lengths.

Tizzard said: "Everyone is going to scrutinise his jumping, because he is such a big, powerful horse who gallops so well, there's nothing else to talk about.

"He has tremendous scope and it's nice to get another run under his belt - he's getting experience of jumping round against lesser opposition, but has he learnt anything today? I was glad when Tom went on (as the second circuit approached) because he was better going a bit faster."

Thistlecrack will stick to the novice route for his next race, which could be at Newbury.

"I would say he will stay as a novice for now - he might have another run at the end of the month, possibly at the Hennessy meeting," said Tizzard.

"He's not the finished article and I can't see any point in staying in his stable for the next six weeks. I'd like him to take on more rivals, but people won't take us on. The King George is a very hot race, a 'yeehaa' all the way round as we've seen in the past. It's one of the toughest races you can imagine.

"If we're going big after Christmas, he needs to get more experience - he has such a big engine he won't have given himself a hard race today. At the moment, he's a novice chaser and so we'll have another run and then decide his next target."

Paddy Power left Thistlecrack unchanged as 7-2 favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

TRIUMPH HURDLE TRIAL

Defi Du Seuil staked an early claim for Festival honours with an impressive performance to take the Grade 2 JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle.

The Philip Hobbs-trained three-year-old followed up his debut success over jumps at Ffos Los in some style under Barry Geraghty.

East Indies and Red Hot Chilly made most of the running to three out, where Defi Du Seuil and Dino Velvet cruised up to take closer order.

The latter came down at the final flight when holding every chance and that left Defi Du Seuil to win snugly by a length and three-quarters from Diable De Sivola. Lambeau Field was 58 lengths away in third place.

Hobbs said: "He's a lovely horse at home and everything he does is really nice. It's a big relief to see him come here and do that today. He did it very well at Ffos Las. It was a very minor race there, but we were hoping he'd do that today. He's a very nice prospect for the future.

"He's done everything well. He always jumps well and has a really good attitude and softer ground will be no problem to him, he's very pleased. Barry was very pleased. I imagine he'll run somewhere before the Festival, but I'm not sure where he might go."

Jane Williams, wife and assistant to Nick Williams, the trainer of runner-up Diable De Sivola, said: "It was a brilliant run. I just wish the race had been a bit further. I was very happy with him. The McManus horse had a bit more in the tank and we just needed a bit further. He's only a three-year-old and we don't want to push him too much. He has a long career ahead of him."

LISTED SUPRISE

Paul Townend struck at Cheltenham when Anteros sprang a 20-1 surprise in the Regulatory Finance Solutions Handicap Hurdle.

Corrin Wood put in a brave effort in trying to make all and was still in front coming to the last flight in the Listed heat, but Anteros was cantering for Townend having made stealthy progress from well off the pace. He put in an excellent leap at the last and accelerated away up the hill to win by seven lengths.

Trainer Sophie Leech said: "I always thought he could win a nice handicap like this as he's always been a nice horse.

"There's so much work that goes into him as he's never been easy to train. He was very keen as a young horse and he's just very late maturing. Every summer on his back he's done better physcially and matured mentally. He just needs to be produced at the right moment as he doesn't find much off the bridle, but it worked out great today."