Lydia Hislop: Road to Cheltenham Part two Cue Card Vautour Douvan

Lydia Hislop discusses Vautour, Cue Card, Douvan and more in the latest update to her Road to Cheltenham series.

We were expecting to witness brilliance on Saturday and we did… only two hundred miles and three years north of how we'd imagined it.

For it wasn't the six-year-old upstart Vautour's seasonal debut success at Ascot that opened our eyes wide; it was the scintillating Betfair Chase triumph of comparative veteran Cue Card. Vautour might still be favourite for every race you can shake a stick at, but it was Cue Card who won like it.

Cheltenham Gold Cup

Last season's Cheltenham Festival was a thrilling sequence of chase one-upmanship. Coneygree's life-affirming Gold Cup assault eclipsed Vautour's serene JLT triumph, just as he had previously ousted Un De Sceaux's Arkle romp as performance of the week.

In the words of his jockey Ruby Walsh, Vautour's performance was "flawless" and it was. He was given a free pass on the lead, mind, but he also blew away some very decent horses.

So there were great expectations of him in Ascot's Grade Two 2m5f chase last Saturday - the chosen comeback vehicle for the ante-post favourite for the King George, Gold Cup and Ryanair Chase. The race conditions favoured Vautour: he received 5lb from Ptit Zig, for example, a horse he beat by almost 19 lengths at Cheltenham.

But there were some unknowns. It was his first run for 254 days whereas Ptit Zig had already returned with a Grade Two win at Down Royal. He faced a ruthlessly right-handed track. It was also softer ground than that which surely played a significant role in transforming him into the dazzling JLT specimen.

As at Cheltenham, Walsh needed no encouragement to lead on a horse he is convinced is a thorough stayer. Vautour raced enthusiastically but almost immediately began to jump to his left. He was not being hassled for the lead when he then reached for the tenth and lurched at the 11th.

We then saw his grit - something he hasn't really needed before - as Ptit Zig laid down a serious challenge from the second last. Even though Walsh always seemed confident he had his rival's measure, asking Vautour long, and getting it, at the last sealed the deal.

It was a return to action that gets more satisfactory the more you look at it. I'm sure Ptit Zig is an improved horse this season and the extent of his JLT defeat was already not a fair measure of the comparative ability of these two horses. I'm also sure connections are right in saying Vautour will improve for the run.

Ascot is a track that pitilessly exposes a preference for racing left-handed - more than any other top right-handed track in Britain - and on the chase course in particularly where, as Walsh testified, the siting of the fences are slightly on the turn and follow the lay-out of the internal ring-road.

Kempton, although also right-handed, admittedly may not pose as great a problem to Vautour as did Ascot but, facing top-class company for the first time over three miles in the King George, its orientation cannot be construed as an advantage for him. We do not yet know whether his left-handed bias gets worse when his jumping is put under pressure and/or he gets tired. If Coneygree runs at Kempton, I reckon we'll find out.

Although both Walsh and owner Rich Ricci are not bothered by the potential for deep ground on Boxing Day, again I cannot deem it an advantage for Vautour. On the upside, the step up in trip may be the least of his troubles.

Walsh pointed out that Kauto Star could adjust left at his fences and yet his best Kempton form is matchless. This is true; it might prove no bother to Vautour, too, but I don't want to take 3/1 to find out.

You can understand why Nicholls is considering the King George for Ptit Zig after this career-best performance. The distance is an unknown for him, too, of course. I don't know what, if any, significance to give to his high tail-carriage and the fact he flashed it after the fence at which Vautour made his error at Ascot.

In the backwash, Barry Geraghty was quick to pull up O'Faolains Boy, the horse on whom he won the 2014 RSA Chase and who was having his first start since April of that year. The horse had made a mistake at the first but was never travelling.

Geraghty stressed at the time there was no actual problem, something since confirmed by both trainer Rebecca Curtis and the fact the horse is likely to turn out at Newbury or Newcastle this weekend. But Curtis does now believe he is "even more ground-dependent than we originally thought".

"It wasn't as soft at Ascot as we felt it would be and he didn't like it. That's what we're putting it down to," she told the Racing Post. O'Faolains Boy is therefore hard to consider a Gold Cup contender in anything but extreme conditions; even then, there are surely better mudlarks - the titleholder, for example.

Less than an hour after Vautour's satisfactory return, Cue Card followed up his Charlie Hall victory with a seven-length success in the Betfair Chase, again racing with the enthusiasm of a horse who's had an important part of his breathing apparatus restored to full working order. He raced brightly throughout, jumped beautifully, was always going to win and clocked a good time.

He brushed aside Silvaniaco Conti, who did indeed improve for his debut at a course that has always suited him in the past. However, on this occasion, he started to jump right pretty much from the outset and had little fight in him when the winner coasted past.

Whereas Silviniaco Conti was a tad below his best, Cue Card was at least right up to his zenith. Yet neither horse makes much Gold Cup appeal for me, I must admit, however. Brilliant though the winner was here, I remain unconvinced that his stamina would withstand 3m2.5f at Coneygree pace.

Both horses head for a red-hot edition of the King George next. Given Cue Card railed like a greyhound bunny on his past two left-handed starts, you might argue the advantage swings towards Silviniaco Conti - particularly given trainer Nicholls is talking of applying blinkers. First-time cheekpieces produced a spike in his form previously.

But Cue Card is in the far-superior form and was a clear, rallying second-best in the 2013 renewal of Kempton's Grade One centrepiece chase. He's a major player again in a season that is channeling retro so far.

Dynaste could only plug on without ever threatening in third - he's some way below his best so far this term - and Holywell jumped in laboured fashion on ground not that unsuitable. Jonjo O'Neill, his trainer, mooted easing him in grade. His hopes of revival rest on his 'Spring horse' reputation.

Over in Ireland earlier in the week, it was super to see Sir Des Champs come roaring back with success on his first start for almost two years at Thurles on Thursday.

Rubi Light was allowed an uncontested long lead but, once the 2013 Gold Cup runner-up got his stride on, surrender was inevitable. His jumping was assured and he had the race won at the last before coasting home.

The world has moved on, however, since Sir Des Champs found Bobs Worth seven lengths too good at Cheltenham. He needs to have improved on his previous best to get involved, although he is only nine and would not have found a soft-ground Gold Cup showing him to best effect back then.

The stoking this horse needs is the obvious drawback to this thought but, given the numbers of staying chasers he has, it might be worth trainer Willie Mullins entering Sir Des Champs in the World Hurdle. The impression he made when cutting down his opposition to win the 2011 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle - not a graded race, admittedly - still lingers in my mind.

Looking ahead to this Saturday's Hennessy, the Bradstocks have announced Coneygree sadly misses the race after he failed to show his usual flair when schooling. However, his foot complaint is still deemed minor enough for the King George (needs supplementing) or Lexus to be his next target.

Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase

Little new to report in this section this week, save that Un De Sceaux might make his reappearance in Sandown's Betfair Tingle Creek - a race that's shaping up like the Champion Chase four months early (admittedly perhaps minus the Cheltenham hero, Dodging Bullets).

Ryanair Chase

Again, little to report here this week aside from a clarification: Paul Jones's weekly Festival advice brought to my attention some ambiguity about whether the titleholder, Uxizandre, is out for the season or there was hope he might make it back for the Spring.

I rang Alan King, his trainer, who said: "No, he's out for the season. To my knowledge, there is no chance of him coming back before then." It's good to be sure. Never underestimate the miracles performed by the Healing Hands; it can prove costly.

Stan James Champion Hurdle

Mistakes will continue to hold back Irving, even though he managed to defeat Top Notch at Haydock on Saturday. He held the benefit of match-fitness over the Triumph Hurdle runner-up, is three years his elder and took some time to quell him after making mistakes three out and, more notably, at the last.

On this evidence, the game Top Notch suggested he should rank the more highly of the pair over hurdles. Making the running might not have suited him ideally and his jumping was rusty early on. The mistake he made two out, having got Irving in trouble at the one before, might have been crucial in that it allowed the winner to get to him more easily then he should.

But it was nonetheless a highly encouraging return from Top Notch. Irving now heads to Newcastle for the Fighting Fifth this Saturday where he will face a deeper field, including a supplemented Wicklow Brave from the Willie Mullins Massive.

Talking of which, the dust has settled on Faugheen's defeat and connections are adamant that a physical problem was not a factor, even though he hung right for the first time. Underestimating an improved Nichols Canyon and that unfettered final piece of pre-race work are thought to be the combined villains.

We'll know more in the Christmas Hurdle, Faugheen's next stop. Boxing Day at Kempton is fast becoming an unmissable engagement this Christmas.

Ladbrokes World Hurdle

After getting stuck in the mud on his first try at three miles at Wetherby last month, former Champion Hurdle hero Rock On Ruby was dropped by five furlongs in trip and won at Ascot on Saturday under an exquisitely controlling ride from Geraghty.

It looked like he might be facing a proper battle approaching the last when chief challenger, Grumeti, made a critical mistake that cost him second. However, the distance Rock On Ruby put between himself and his field on the run-in strongly suggested it was a phoney war anyway.

Cheltenham's Relkeel Hurdle on New Year's Day is now the winner's target and, on the basis of that, trainer Harry Fry will decide whether to prioritise the World Hurdle over unknown of three miles or the Aintree Hurdle, at the Crabbie's Grand National meeting, over the known of two-and-a-half miles. Whichever, it's going to be a tough ask for an 11-year-old - even a bonny one like Ruby, who's lost none of his quick-fire jumping technique.

Annie Power continues, inexplicably, to head the World Hurdle ante-post market with many bookmakers. If it was odd that a mare who's got unfinished business in another event and whose trainer (who prefers a Festival gimme to a gallant second) has identified that race to be her target was still favourite for this race beforehand, it's even odder she's still there after her owner said she'd had a setback. More on that in the relevant section…

Meanwhile, titleholder Cole Harden is set to return at Newbury this week and has reportedly had another breathing operation over the summer. This treatment appeared to play a key part in his transformation from hanging Cleeve Hurdle fourth to World Hurdle victor. That he needed another so soon might be unnerving, however.

OLBG David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle

Annie Power misses this Sunday's Grade One Hatton's Grace at Fairyhouse, her intended return, having picked up what Ricci described as "a bit of a niggle" on top of being slightly behind in her preparation due to dry autumn weather.

That setback means she's up against it to appear before Christmas, so the first time we see her could again be in this event - the race she was going zoom all over in March… until she took off a stride too soon at the last and crumpled to the ground in one of the most significant falls in racing history.

Back then I was arguing her form didn't entitle her to be as short a price as she was, but she was in the process of proving that to be bunkum when she fell. No mare to trouble her has emerged so far this season.

Desert Queen settled better in winning at Ascot on Saturday than when essentially bolting on her first start of the season at Wincanton. However, she needs to find approaching 20lb of improvement to trouble Annie and is bred to be a stayer anyway.

Novice chasers

Douvan was cordially invited to make all, unchallenged, on his chase debut at Navan on Sunday - an invitation that Walsh accepted without hesitation. Last season's Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner jumped straight and quite well, displaying an ability to adjust his stride if meeting a fence a bit wrong, which he did once or twice, until ridden into the last when he rather jerked at it.

He was vastly superior to his opposition, however - a gulf only emphasised by their reticence. We will have to wait until he goes up in grade to see how he jumps with company upsides and under pressure. Keep taking the pills if 7/4 for the Arkle makes any appeal.

Less than 24 hours later, Vaniteux made at least as stylish a chase debut - if not arguably more so. He faced a smaller field of greater depth - at least, it was when they lined up - but also bossed the race from the front.

His jumping was excellent and, even though two of his rivals fell (including a surrender-monkey moment from Regal Encore), he still thumped a horse of Qewy's ability without breaking sweat. He was trimmed to 10/1 for the Arkle and no wonder: this was an assured start.

He achieved less than Douvan as a novice hurdler - placed behind Vautour in the 2014 Supreme and, better, second to Garde La Victoire off 147 in the Greatwood later that same year - but marked time with a timid second season over the smaller obstacles. To borrow from Lance-Corporal Jack Jones, he must prove he can deal with it up 'im.

Last Wednesday, Bristol De Mai mostly soared round Warwick's tricky fences. He got in close to one in the back straight but responded with a super jump at the next and never allowed Karezak the whiff of a chance to challenge.

Again, the winner made all unchallenged, so it was a relatively controlled environment but he seemed to have learned plenty since his Uttoxeter defeat by Garde La Victoire - a good horse anyway. The Grade One Henry VIII Novices' Chase makes plenty of appeal for Nigel Twiston-Davies's grey - especially as he might need to make hay while the mud is flying.

The frequently keen and sweating Ttebob showed relatively little of either habit when winning over 2m2f on his chase debut at Thurles on Thursday. His natural exuberance took him away and clear from the second, prior to which odds-on favourite Moyle Park pulled up with a fractured pelvis and at which another of the fancied runners, Net D'Ecosse, fell. This was a good effort on the clock but it might get hairy were his jumping to be examined more closely.

Given Minella Rocco had reportedly suffered a bout of colic this autumn, in retrospect it was probably inevitable that his eagerly awaited chase debut at Haydock last Friday would be carried out with circumspection.

The alternative would have been a hard race for a horse whose jumping had not been the most convincing - even though he was held up in last in a three-runner promenade, with a good sight of every one of his fences. Geraghty may not have been inclined to test it under pressure at this stage in the horse's career.

Having urged politely and flicked his whip on occasions on the second circuit, he accepted defeat after the third last, a decision compounded by a slow recovery to over-jumping the next fence.

Yet, given the way the race then panned out - Silsol desperately scrambling to successfully concede 5lb to Private Malone - greater application might have given the leaders a fright. Minella Rocco remains a stayer of interest.

Earlier that same day at Ascot, Thomas Brown shaped as though he'll be a better chaser than hurdler with an encouraging opening effort. He varied from careful to good at his fences, but it was particularly encouraging to see him measure the second-last while being challenged upsides.

He came to wear cheekpieces over hurdles last season and the way he wandered approaching the last two fences suggested he might benefit from their reapplication. There was promise back in third from Remind Me Later, who received a sympathetic introduction to chasing.

Novice hurdlers

It was very easy for Yanworth, carrying a penalty to victory on his second spin over hurdles at Warwick last Wednesday, and he won far more comfortably than the official margin. There's room for improvement in his jumping but he's ready for a step up in grade now, according to trainer King.

On Racing UK last Saturday, I asked Ricci to identify the novice hurdlers for whom he held the highest hopes, given it was a year to the day since he'd pinpointed Douvan for viewers to follow.

He name-checked Min, who's entered at Thurles this week, American Tom, who had won earlier that day at Gowran, and Beau Mome, who made mistakes and had been well beaten at odds-on on his hurdling debut at Punchestown two Saturdays previously. The last-named might be excused that run after subsequently scoping badly.

American Tom would probably have won at Gowran even without the dramatic scenes at the second last when Bryan Cooper's mount, Gunnery Sergeant, fell and took the legs from underneath Robbie Power's mount, Neverushacon. Only Cooper's quick reactions prevented a hooked-up Power from being run away with upside down, his leg stuck in the irons.

The winner had travelled strongly but looked initially gawky when asked to win his race. His jumping is as-yet novicey and he might benefit from racing left-handed, given he adjusted that way more than once. He's interesting.

There were at least two notable performances at Navan on Sunday. First, Woodland Opera won the opening maiden hurdle on his debut over obstacles in a good time for the day, having briefly looked in trouble after the second-last. He beat a mildly awkward-looking Coney Island.

Although he is set to be upped in grade over Christmas, trainer Jessica Harrington's repeated comment that she sees him as a nascent chaser might well mean the Festival is not on his agenda this season.

Half an hour later, Falcon Crest efficiently dispatched his opposition in a more steadily run affair, despite being patiently ridden and having to neatly avoid the fallen Dallas Cowboy at the penultimate hurdle. He responded positively to a couple of taps to settle the race without any fuss.

A couple of his rivals underperformed. A slow pace, testing ground and a drop down in trip were all to the disadvantage of Cogryhill. The mare Ten Times Better seemed to run very flat; she, too, might have disliked the going. But fourth-placed Okotoks looked an interesting handicap project.