Binocular out to stake Champion claim

BINOCULAR is likely to start at prohibitive odds as he bids to show he is Champion Hurdle material on his first run of the season at Haydock today.

JP McManus’s four-year-old, trained by Nicky Henderson, is rated far superior to his four rivals in the Betfair Hurdle and is already ante-post favourite for the Smurfit Kappa-sponsored showpiece at Cheltenham next March following a very fruitful first campaign over hurdles.

After winning his first two starts, he was second in the Supreme Novices’ at Cheltenham before flooring Triumph hero Celestial Halo at Aintree.