American hopes have Cheltenham spin American raiders Solo Lord and Pelagos had their first taste of Cheltenham today when undergoing a workout around part of the cross country course.The Stateside pair, handled by Bruce Miller, were put through their paces by the trainer`s daughter Blythe and retired jockey Sean Clancy.Solo Lord takes his chance in the William Hill Handicap Chase on Tuesday while Pelagos lines up for the Bonusprint Stayers` Hurdle on Thursday.Both will be partnered in their respective races by Blythe Miller.Her father said: 'We flew in to Heathrow this morning and came straight here to give the horses some work. We put them over a fence twice and are pleased with both of them.'Solo Lord actually prefers very firm ground so we don`t really know how he will act on this type of ground but he`s one of the best jumpers I`ve ever had in my life and he won the Maryland Hunt Cup for us last year.'Miller added that Pelagos, once trained in this country by Roger Charlton, came over mainly as a babysitter for Solo Lord but declared: 'He wants a distance and they don`t have long races over hurdles in America so we`ll see how he goes.'However, Miller categorically stated the visit is a sporting challenge rather than anything serious.He added: 'We don`t have any aspirations coming here as I don`t really see how we can win either race but if we got placed that would be great 'My daughter, Blythe, loves riding here and she actually won over the course on Lonesome Glory in 1992 but sadly he died just 10 days ago.'
