NOVICES have done well in the Betfair Hurdle in recent years but hardly any pundits went along with 16/1 chance Agrapart and Lizzie Kelly in the Grade 3 race at Newbury last Saturday.

Britain’s most valuable handicap hurdle has seldom been won so easily, even if the margin of 11 lengths owed plenty to Starchitect’s bad mistake at the last.

Agrapart had just taken his measure and was left to gallop well clear on the run-in, with Flying Angel third ahead of Affaire D’Honneur. Noel Meade’s Waxies Dargle fared best of the Irish challengers in fifth.

Agrapart had run over middle-distances on the flat in France prior to joining Kelly’s stepfather Nick Williams. He won a novices’ hurdle by a long way at Aintree last winter but had been absent for some time when finishing third in the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown last month.

He probably needed the outing and the very fact that he took on Grade 1 opposition showed how highly he is regarded.

Never far off the pace on Saturday, he challenged long-time leader Starchitect as they approached the last and was clearly going the better. Miss Kelly became the first woman to win a Grade 1 National Hunt jumps race in Britain or Ireland when scoring on Tea For Two over Christmas and is outstanding value for her 5lb allowance.

These days in top professional sport there is little point in allowing nerves to enter the equation and, without ever sounding over-confident, she is clearly happy to be taking on the best.

“We’ve been thinking about this race ever since Aintree,” Williams said. “He’s not entered at Cheltenham and is very much a soft to heavy ground horse.

“I was surprised he started at such long odds,” Kelly added. “He has such an incredible stride. It’s nice when you go under the radar, people ignore you a bit more. In a funny sort of way I think I’m better on big days because I work better under pressure. I don’t suppose I’ll be all that busy at Cheltenham, though!”

Starchitect must surely gain compensation in a quality handicap hurdle. Fourth in the Fred Winter at Cheltenham last March and a faller (for Ruby Walsh) at Aintree when still trained by Donald McCain, this was his first outing for David Pipe after many months on the sidelines and he ran a blinder.

Willie Mullins ran five in the Betfair with Kalkir coming out best in sixth and the heavily-backed Blazer - very poor value at 3/1 favourite in such a competitive affair - only ninth.

Both Buiseness Sivola and Dicosimo came down; the latter running much too freely before falling at the fourth and necessitating a trip to hospital for Danny Mullins for a precautionary x-ray on his knee. A huge, powerful performer, Dicosimo is capable of much better.