Villon on course for Cheltenham

Lenny Lungo reports his exciting prospect Villon to be firmly on course for a trip to the Cheltenham Festival.

The Carrutherstown handler is favouring a crack at the Letheby & Christopher Supreme Novices’ Hurdle for his six-year-old, who has yet to taste defeat in four starts, two over timber and two in bumpers.

“I’m very happy with him and I’m very hopeful we will get him to Cheltenham,” he said. “I was going to fit in another race beforehand but he had a bit of a cold about two weeks ago.

“That’s all cleared now, though, and he is working well.

“We could take him for a racecourse gallop but he is a horse who pulls very hard, so works well at home, and I should be able to get him ready there.”

Villon, who easily accounted for subsequent Grade Two winner Bewleys Berry at Ayr over Christmas, is also entered in the Royal & SunAlliance Hurdle over two and a half miles next month.

Lungo went on: “We haven’t made a decision on which race he goes to at the Festival but I’d be favouring the two-miler as he is quick enough and it is a stiff two miles down there.

“The softer the ground, the more likely it will be the Supreme Novices.

“Bewleys Berry has done his form no harm, although we maybe just had a bit more speed than him that day as the race turned into a bit of a sprint.”