'All systems go' for Yanworth and Kingwell Hurdle

Yanworth is on course to have his warm-up race for Cheltenham in the Betway Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton on Saturday after a slight setback caused him to miss Sandown earlier this month. Alan King's leading contender for the Stan James Champion Hurdle tweaked a muscle on his hind quarters which ruled him out of the Contenders Hurdle.All is well again now and the Christmas Hurdle victor, owned by JP McManus, is set to return to the fray."We worked Yanworth this morning on the grass and it's all systems go for Saturday," said King."We really appreciated that Barry Johnson (Wincanton's clerk of the course) brought forward the Kingwell Hurdle to 2.45pm to provide these Champion Hurdle contenders with first dibs of the hurdle track."King's Sceau Royal is also among the 10 entries, but is not certain to run."Sceau Royal is not a guaranteed runner at the moment - I wouldn't want to run him on really testing ground," he said."We'll have to see how the weather holds and how Wincanton dries."Paul Nicholls is double-handed with Irving and Capitaine."Both my horses have dual entries for racing at Wincanton and Kelso," said the Ditcheat trainer."We'll see how the weather fairs and make a decision later in the week."Last year's winner Rayvin Black is set to run in an attempt to retain his crown.His trainer Oliver Sherwood said: "The plan is run this Saturday at Wincanton, but it will be weather dependent. If it dries out considerably then we won't run."We've been swimming with Rayvin Black to freshen him up and after Saturday we may head to France to pick up some international contests."Rayvin Black put up his usual brave performance when second in the Contenders Hurdle to Buveur D'Air.