Dolce last on hurdling debut Dolce N Karama failed to trouble the judge for the Pat Shanahan operation when given his chance to shine in the JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham. Despite his 40-1 starting price, hopes were high that the recent Dundalk Flat scorer could make a big impression on his hurdling bow. He put in some fine leaps and, at one stage, looked set to take a hand in the finish, but he faded out of contention heading towards the third-last flight and was virtually tailed off in last place behind the JP McManus-owned Hargam. Nicky Henderson's grey (8-11 favourite) had to work hard up the run-in for Tony McCoy, but he had just enough to keep Karezak at bay by a length and a quarter after the latter put in a far-from-perfect leap at the final flight. Henderson said: "I wasn't even sure if we were in front, they were that wide apart. AP said it rode like a good race. He certainly thinks better ground will suit. They went a really good pace and it's pretty testing ground. "March is the objective and we'll work back from there. There's a race here in January (Trials Day) but if it's heavy ground he'd miss that. I have a couple more juveniles to come out but he's up there with the best of them." Alan King said of the runner-up, who was giving 3lb: "He might have been a bit unlucky but he's hung right across the track, which isn't ideal."
