Dunguib 'fresh and well' for Leopardstown

Trainer Philip Fenton is quietly confident ahead of Supreme Novices' favourite Dunguib's upcoming run in Sunday's Grade 1 Deloitte Hurdle at Leopardstown.

The seven-year old has been touted for the Cheltenham Festival's opening contest since last year's Champion Bumper triumph, and with three comfortable victories over timber under his belt, is a solid 5/4 to give punters a perfect start to the Festival on March 16.

"We'd like to think that he's good enough to win on Sunday, and he's as well as we can have him," Fenton told sportinglife.com.

"He's certainly not overtrained for Sunday, I assure you that, and then we can go straight from Sunday to Cheltenham."

"The ground at Leopardstown will be as nice as he's had it all year; it should be lovely ground. Dunguib is fresh, well, and ready to roll."

Fenton has focused much of Dunguib's work on his hurdling, which he feels is progressing nicely, but is fully aware that his charge is not yet the finished article.

"He'll certainly have a school before he runs on Sunday and it's fair to say he's probably open to improvement."

The Glenbower team display meticulous preparation when it comes to laying out Dunguib's Festival preparations, and it is clear that they will not exert their star novice more than is necessary.

"I'm sure he'll have a couple of easy days after the race, he has plenty of time on his side and he doesn't take a huge amount of work. For that reason we'll gradually wind him up towards the last three weeks before Cheltenham."

Of course, a comfortable win at Leopardstown would automatically trigger calls for Dunguib to contest an already wide-open Champion Hurdle - but Fenton was keen to emphasise the quality of the field Dunguib would face.

"I'd say the Champion Hurdle is still very much at the back of my mind. We said we'd better cover all options and have him entered.

"With the way Solwhit won at Leopardstown, and of course with Go Native, the obvious route to take would be the Supreme Novices'."