NICKY Henderson would probably say this has been a patchy season so far but his novice hurdlers are going in with impressive regularity and 4/9 favourite L’Ami Serge easily accounted for three rivals in the Grade 1 32Red Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown on Saturday.

Shelford made the running but gave way to the winner approaching two out and eventually came down at the last when beaten. L’Ami Serge was ridden well clear by Barry Geraghty to beat Harry Fry’s Jolly’s Cracked It by 14 lengths with 100/1 shot Thelordbewithyou completely tailed off in third. Absent for a couple of years, he picked up nearly £5,000 for his pains, which is not bad for a wholly outclassed 11-year-old novice hurdler.

L’Ami Serge has now won three out of three for Henderson and looks every inch a leading Supreme Novices’ contender, with the 7/1 offered by Ladbrokes soon snapped up. He is owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, who also have the first and second favourites for the Triumph Hurdle in Peace And Co and Bristol De Mai.

“He’s run right away from two classy horses,” Henderson remarked of last week’s winner. “He knows his job and may be even better going left-handed. We’ll go straight to the Supreme now.”

The most obvious Mullins-trained contender is Douyan, who shares 5/1 favouritism in several lists. Geraghty is aware of the threat but was impressed on Saturday and, perhaps significantly, feels L’Ami Serge will be better on faster ground, which he has not encountered so far.