THE ability that carried Sayo into third in the 2018 Triumph Hurdle still burns brightly on the evidence of the two-and-a-quarter-mile beginners’ chase where the Willie Mullins inmate dished out a wide-margin thrashing to his rivals.

After pulling up in the Galway Hurdle on his first run since the Triumph, Sayo didn’t jump well at all when fourth to Djingle at Listowel last month, but those two comeback efforts have evidently allowed him to turn a corner. The five-year-old grey looked a good deal more assured this time under Paul Townend and he was at his strongest on the long run from the last to the line.