Pigeon Island in flying form at Kempton
Pigeon Island, who is retaining his form despite an incredibly arduous campaign, flew right away with the Anglo Irish Bank Dovecote Novices' Hurdle at Kempton.
Paddy Brennan sneaked through on the inside rail almost unnoticed to take over the Grade Two event with two flights to jump and the 7-2 shot quickened away to score by a ready five lengths.
There were several disappointments, most notably 11-4 favourite Numide, who was a rarely-threatening fourth.
"He ran superbly in the Totesport Trophy at Newbury and I needed to run him again to get him ready for Cheltenham," said winning trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.
"He's answered a lot of questions and will now go for the Supreme."
Bookmakers cut Pigeon Island almost unanimously to 14-1.
Oslot (11-2) ran out a rather fortunate winner of the racingpost.co.uk Pendil Novices' Chase.
Hobbs Hill was out in front but took a crashing fall at the third-last, where Pur de Sivola came to grief independently and his trailing leg managed to catch Oslot's rider Ruby Walsh on the back.
Walsh managed to keep riding however and had enough in the tank to hold off the remaining finishers, Philip Hobbs' pair Lead On and Pancake.
"I've never been in so much pain riding a winner," said Walsh.
Winning owner Andy Stewart added: "Hobbs Hill departing gave us a good opportunity.
"Oslot has no entries at all at Cheltenham and we'll look for something at Liverpool and Sandown."
The Nicky Henderson-trained Binocular boosted his Cheltenham claims by maintaining his unbeaten record over jumps in the Adonis Juvenile Novices' Hurdle.
However, the 8-11 shot was made to work hard for his success as Pierrot Lunaire proved a persistent challenger and only went down by a length and a quarter. Zanir was 11 lengths away third.
Winning jockey Mick Fitzgerald said: "He will have learned an awful lot. I kept to the inside all the time. He didn't jump as well coming back on this quicker ground and that may have just caught him out. He will have learned a lot."
Looking to the Festival, where the winner holds entries in the Supreme Novices' and Triumph Hurdle, Fitzgerald said: "The Triumph is on the stiffer of the two tracks and he seemed to need every yard today. He's a very game horse and that's what I like about him. He looked under pressure and jumped badly for one of ours, but he kept battling."
Henderson added: "Mick said he didn't jump as well as he ought to have. He schooled superbly the other day and we thought he wouldn't need to see a hurdle again but we will have to do something about that."
