Burdett makes Wincanton stop on Festival Road

Burdett Road bids to keep Champion Hurdle dreams alive when he heads to Wincanton for the BetMGM Kingwell Hurdle.

The five-year-old has some striking Flat form and having scored at Royal Ascot when trained by Michael Bell, has also won at Listed level and placed in group contests since James Owen has been overseeing his racecourse preparations.

He has been equally successful over hurdles so far and having created a taking impression in his early forays over obstacles, he returned to hurdles after a summer on the Flat to claim the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in November.

His next start was in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day, where he was third behind Constitution Hill and Lossiemouth and would have been closer to the action were it not for a final-flight error.

The Champion Hurdle is now on the horizon for the gelding, who is owned and was bred by the Gredley family, and the Grade Two Kingwell is designed to serve as a perfect springboard for that task in March.

Owen said: “He’s improved his last four runs – two on the Flat, two over hurdles. It was a great performance in the Greatwood Hurdle and I though he backed that up and improved again in the Christmas Hurdle.

“Barring a mistake at the last, I thought he would have been involved and he mixed it pace-wise with the best in the division.

“Hopefully he is a progressive five-year-old and we’re obviously keen to run in the Champion Hurdle. It’s not going to be an easy task at Wincanton giving weight away to some useful opposition, but if he can’t be competitive he is going to struggle in a Champion Hurdle, so we thought it was well worth having a go.”

Jeremy Scott’s Golden Ace will steps down in trip after two beaten efforts over further in the Ascot Hurdle and the Relkeel so far this season.

The seven-year-old was unbeaten in her novice campaign, winning two Taunton events before landing the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and taking the scalp of Gordon Elliott’s top-class Brighterdaysahead.

She then won for a fourth time in a Listed event over an extended trip at the same track in April, a success that seemed to suggest she was destined for the two-and-a-half-mile division when returning this season.

Scott has always felt she had plenty of speed for a lesser trip, however, and she will now drop back to two miles again.

“She’s very well at home. It will be interesting to see her back over two miles on a fast and flat track, so it’ll be a difference to Ascot and Cheltenham,” said Scott.

“We’ve been wanting to run her over two miles all season but we’ve not managed to find the right race.

“In fairness she only came into herself this time last year, we’ve struggled to get her 100 per cent all season but I feel we’re nearly there now.

“Hopefully we can see her more like she was last spring than she has been so far.

“So far she hasn’t seemed like she has seen out the two and half miles very well, but we’ve been on deep ground and I don’t think she’s been 100 per cent, so I think we are really trying to find out about her.”

Harry Derham’s Brentford Hope – a creditable three lengths behind Constitution Hill in the Unibet Hurdle at Cheltenham on Trials day – and the Gary and Josh Moore-trained Hansard are the other two runners.