UNIBET CHRISTMAS

HURDLE (GRADE 1)

NICKY Henderson’s arsenal of talent will surely carry him to another trainers’ title.

Buveur D’Air and Barry Geraghty coasted clear in the four-runner Christmas Hurdle.

Starting at 2/11, the current champion tracked The New One and picked him off at the last, Sam Twiston-Davies having intelligently kicked on at the right moment, though to no avail. Mohayyed and Chesterfield were not disgraced in a very steadily-run contest.

Whether there is anything on this side of the Irish Sea to challenge Buveur D’Air at the highest level seems increasingly unlikely, a fact underlined by the modest turn-out here, with only the wonderfully durable The New One posing any sort of threat.

His programme more or less picks itself, with the Champion Hurdle Trial, a race he won last year, preceding the Stayers’ Hurdle at the festival. This was the fourth time he had finished runner-up in the Christmas Hurdle.

Henderson has no doubts that Buveur D’Air will certainly be in action again before Cheltenham.

“He has to go somewhere because he’s mighty big!” the trainer said. “You won’t see anything quicker from A to B, though Barry says he’s too young to remember See You Then. He’s just flicking the top bar of his hurdles and it’s horrible to watch because there’s no margin for error but his knees are up and he’s in, out, gone. I might try to get him up an inch before Cheltenham but Barry says no.”

“That’s right,’’ Geraghty confirmed. “There are times when a horse is low and it’s a bit edgy to see, but with him it’s measured. If you look at some great Champion Hurdle winners, horses like Binocular, Hurricane Fly and Hardy Eustace, they were measured. This lad is measured to a T.”

Pending Faugheen’s appearance yesterday, Buveur D’Air was as short as 15/8 in places to retain his crown.