Yanworth bound for the Stayers’ Hurdle

YANWORTH will run in the Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival next month.

The Alan King-trained eight-year-old has won two of his four races over fences this season, most recently scoring at Grade Two level in the Dipper Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.

He holds entries in the JLT Novices’ Chase and the RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase at the Festival, while King also mooted he might be given an entry in the Ultima Handicap Chase, too.

However, the decision has been made to revert to hurdles, partly as the current favourite, Supasundae, finished behind Yanworth in the Liverpool Hurdle last April.

Owner JP McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry said: “We just thought his jumping hadn’t been the slickest. However, we’re not saying he won’t go back over fences, maybe even later this spring. We’ll just see how he gets on here first.

“He’ll be taken out of the novice chases at Cheltenham, though, and will definitely run in the Stayers’.

“He was in the Stayers’ and we just thought it was a chance to go down that road. Later in the season he’ll have all the options.”

ROBBIE Power believes Noel Fehily is the perfect choice to partner Our Duke in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Power has partnered the Jessica Harrington-trained eightyear-old on each of his 10 starts over jumps.

However, with Power having chosen to partner last year’s Gold Cup winner Sizing John in the blue riband on March 16, his stablemate required a new jockey and Harrington moved swiftly to snap up Fehily’s services.

Power said: “Jessie couldn’t have got a better man than Noel Fehily to replace me on Our Duke. He’s a top class jockey.”