Few trainers finished 2007 in the same fine form as Alan King, so it was hardly surprising to see that man on the mark with Oh Crick in the Club 16-24 Annual Big Bash “National Hunt” Novices’ Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Followers of Nicky Henderson were left delighted after the master of Seven Barrows struck with his only two runners – Treasury Counsel and Theft – at Kempton.