Tutti Quanti looks a class above and has Nicholls dreaming big

Paul Nicholls is contemplating supplementing Tutti Quanti for the Champion Hurdle having watched his new star defy top weight with an astounding performance in the William Hill Hurdle at Newbury.

Running off a mark of 138 Harry Cobden ensured there was going to be no hiding place in one of the richest handicap hurdles of the season, setting off at a good clip in the testing ground.

By halfway he had a few of them crying enough and while the likes of Un Sens A La Vie, Lanesborough and Let It Rain did close into contention before the turn for home, that was as close as they got.

Given an inch of rein Tutti Quanti, who finished sixth in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle last season, powered away with Cobden still sitting motionless.

He eventually crossed the line 15 lengths clear of Wellington Arch as a well backed 100-30 chance. Favoir stayed on for third another 18 lengths away.

Nicholls said: “I knew he would improve from his last run and we took him for an away day and he went really well.

“He’s just one of those big, backward type of horses who has been physically improving and getting better all the time and I still think there is more to come from him.

“He obviously likes cut in the ground, keeps galloping and travels well, it was a smart performance.

“I was a little bit nervous as the record books tell you off 12 stone it is hard to win a race like this but he has annihilated them.

“He’s becoming a real horse now and soft ground helps as not many go through it like he can. He’s got some engine and he’s hardly having a blow and I knew turning in when he quickened they would struggle to catch him.

“Turning in I thought they were all up his backside but the great thing is you can sit in front on him, go a good gallop early, pull it up and get a breather in and then kick on again. Harry rode him fantastically well and he’s good on those types of horses. It was brilliant.”

Make A Stand won the corresponding race in 1997 before winning the Champion Hurdle while the likes of Mysilv, Large Action and Essex all won it before running well at Cheltenham and a trip to Prestbury Park could be on the cards if the weather gods allow, with Coral going 20-1 non-runner no bet for the championship event.

Nicholls added: “He’s not entered in anything after today and today has always been the target. We were thinking of putting him in the County Hurdle and a few of those others but we might just have a rethink if the ground was right for him.

“We have just said we could supplement him for the Champion Hurdle if we wanted to and the great thing about supplementing him is you only have to do it five-or six days before the race and you will have a great idea about what the ground will be.

“If the ground was testing we might look at and I’m not saying we will, but we might. If the ground was good we wouldn’t.

“He would hold his own and it’s an open race this year as we know and if the ground was testing we would want him in there.”

He went on: “I suspect he will be a smart two-mile chaser at some point and that has always been his job, but let’s worry about that next year.”