Vista Still On Course For Arkle Tilt

Bookmakers were largely unmoved after Irish Independent Arkle Trophy hopeful Buena Vista made it two wins from as many starts over fences at Hereford.

The David Pipe-trained six-year-old was sent off the well supported 8-15 favourite for the two-mile Hereford Truck Show Novices' Chase, but had to dig reasonably deep to preserve his unbeaten status.

Third in last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle, Tony McCoy's mount jumped to the front at the third-last fence, although his rider was soon noticeably lower in the saddle than Sam Thomas, who was sitting motionless on Chief Yeoman in his slipstream.

The latter made a slight mistake at the penultimate obstacle, however, and then appeared to stumble at a critical point as the duelling pair neared the final fence.

Buena Vista jumped it well and then responded to a characteristic McCoy drive to hold off the rallying 2-1 chance by the narrowest of margins, although he was giving the runner-up 10lb.

Pipe said: 'When you are odds-on in a race like that you haven't really got much to gain but experience and that's what we've come here for.

'AP (McCoy) said he reached for one early, but he was very good after that and it was a completely different track to what it was at Exeter last time.

'I suppose we're heading down the Arkle route, but we'll wait and see how he comes out of this before deciding whether he has another run before Cheltenham,' he told At The Races.

VC Bet and Coral left the winner unchanged at 16-1 for the novice championship, while Skybet cut him to 14-1 (from 16s) and trimmed the runner-up to 25-1 from 40s.

Pipe had earlier hit the target with Joaaci, who followed up a recent course and distance win in the Lindley Catering Novices' Hurdle.

Stamina unsurprisingly came to the fore in the testing conditions but the 2-9 favourite was always travelling strongly and Timmy Murphy only had to nudge his partner home to see off 33-1 chance Elbow Lane by a long-looking six lengths.

'He's had a canter round and done it how he should have done it,' Pipe said.

'He lost his confidence a bit over fences and as he's still a novice hurdler we thought we'd go down that route.

'He's won twice here now under these conditions and these have been two nice confidence boosters.

'We'll see what happens now but I'll talk to Timmy and to David Johnson and he'll probably have both options (hurdling and chasing) coming to the bigger meetings.'

Classic Fiddle created a good impression in the first division of the European Breeders' Fund 'National Hunt' Novices Hurdle.

Nicky Henderson's charge was sent off the well-backed 8-11 chance to maintain her unbeaten record and fought bravely to deny Trigger The Light (9-2) by a length and a half.

Having been at his forceful best aboard Buena Vista, McCoy wasted no time in following up aboard Youll Do For Me in the second division of the novices' hurdle.

Riding a patient race aboard the Jonjo O'Neill-trained winner, he produced the 9-4 second-favourite to lead soon after the last.

Despite then being harried by Hill Forts Timmy (6-1), the winner stayed on well to score by a relatively cosy five lengths.

Thomas and Venetia Williams gained some compensation for Chief Yeoman's eclipse when 10-11 favourite Schuh Shine obliged in the Lindley Catering Handicap Hurdle later on the card.

The galloping grey forced a decent gallop in the conditions and stayed on dourly to hand out an 11-length beating to 40-1 shot Gala Evening.

Milton Des Bieffes became the fifth winning favourite of the day when landing odds of 3-1 for Karen Waldron and Tom Malone in the Lindley Catering Handicap Chase.

(C) PA Sport