Whisky beaten by Taquin at Cheltenham

Taquin Du Seuil edged out Oscar Whisky to land the Steel Plate And Sections Novices' Chase at Cheltenham.

There was drama at the first obstacle in the extended two and a half mile contest as The Cockney Mackem slammed on the breaks and Oscar Whisky blundered.

All four runners safely negotiated that obstacle but barely picked up a canter until Barry Geraghty and Oscar Whisky reluctantly increased the tempo.

All four runners were consequently in contention at the second last but the market leaders pulled clear at the final flight.

Oscar Whisky hit the front and appeared to have done enough only for the Tony McCoy ridden Taquin Du Seuil to pull out a little more and edge ahead close home.

"You've got to do what you think is right," said McCoy, referencing to not wanting to take up the running.

"He was very idle halfway up the run-in when I got by him. It wasn't a nice race to ride in but it was a nice result. A good horse like Oscar Whisky is always going to come back at you when you've gone no gallop.

"I thought he'd quicken up more than he did, to be honest, but he was maybe a bit ring-rusty and it was only up the hill when he got going. It's a nice performance from this horse giving him (Oscar Whisky) 5lb."

The winning trainer Jonjo O'Neill said: "It was a bit of a non-event, they've sprinted over the last two and it didn't tell us a lot really. He is a nice horse and he's handled the track well."

Asked about whether he would be trained for the Arkle, O'Neill said: "I think he's got plenty of pace for two miles and that's the way I wanted to go, but I'm planning it meeting by meeting at the moment rather than looking at the Festival. It would be nice to get one more run into him before Christmas."

Nicky Henderson said of Oscar Whisky: "All we said we wanted to see was for him to go and jump round and enjoy it. He's done nothing wrong but it was one of the most farcical races you are ever likely to see.

"There I was before the race saying I was delighted there were four runners rather than 18 but then there's a danger of what happened there.

"It's not ideal making the running, he was still very good but he's given AP (McCoy) a very good lead and he wasn't going to take it up off Barry. We spent his life trying not to make the running over hurdles so I thought he did really well."

Paddy Power have introduced the winner into the market for the Arkle at Cheltenham in March, making him a 16/1 chance.