Feel Gut looks every inch the part on Warwick debut

Nicky Henderson’s Feel Gut made an impressive British debut at Warwick, so much so in fact he was cut to just 12-1 for the Triumph Hurdle in the process.

Sent off the 4-7 favourite in the Hazelton Mountford Insurance Brokers EBF Junior “National Hunt” Hurdle, Nico de Boinville decided to take no chances and made all the running.

Having allowed his pursuers to close in on turning for home, he soon quickened up and while there was a brief scare at the second-last when he jumped out of his rider’s hands, he came home a ready six and a half lengths clear.

Paddy Power went 12-1 from 33s for the Triumph at Cheltenham in March, while Coral inserted him at 20-1 for the juvenile championship.

Henderson said: “Nico said he’s quick, which is nice because he’s not fancy (at home). I was going to run him about a month ago and I was waiting for him to show me something!

“He’s a big baby with an enormous amount of scope and will jump a fence.

“Nico said no one wanted to go on and he’s a great jumper, so he got on with it and everyone is happy.

“We were a bit nervous because he doesn’t run around every morning saying ‘look at me’ but he’s just a really nice horse who jumps well.

“I don’t know if he’s in the mould of the others we’ve had for Joe like Shishkin, Sir Gino and Lulamba, with Sir Gino you could tell from day one, but that was nice to watch.”

He went on: “He could run in a novice hurdle next year as he’s still eligible. We could run in another ‘junior’ race, but the other option is to run him in something decent. We’ll have to have think about it. We can box clever.

“You might think Adonis or something like that. I’ve got other four-year-olds to come. He was second in Auteuil and he hasn’t actually lost his maiden, which is something to think about.”

Elsewhere on the card, Sean Bowen eclipsed his previous best tally for a season when booting home Olly Murphy’s Gwennie May Star (100-30) in the Betano Boosted Odds Every UK Race Handicap Hurdle for winner number 181 of the campaign.

Bowen said: “I’ve got one more than last year now. It’s early in the season to be over 180 winners and my target at the beginning of the season was 200 so we’ve got 19 more, I can’t be easing down now.”