THE lure of the £100,000 bonus for winning the Morebattle Hurdle and any race at the Cheltenham Festival attracted a strong field to Kelso last Saturday, including raiders from the south of England and Ireland.

However, it was the locally-trained Benson (145) who set up the possibility of claiming next week’s bounty as he swooped late to deny Colonel Mustard (143), who travelled strongly throughout and looked all set to prevail crossing the final hurdle.