Coeur De Lion roars at Sandown for Alan King

Coeur De Lion enhanced his Cheltenham Festival prospects after he ground out victory at Sandown. Ridden just behind the early pace that was cut out by Accord, the Alan King-trained four-year-old moved into the lead in the Betfred-sponsored novice hurdle on the run to the final flight, where he was swiftly joined by favourite Rather Be. But the 7-4 shot pulled out just enough up the run-in to deny the market leader by a head and go one place better than his previous visit to the track. King said: "When I walked off the stands, the big screen had the top one (Rather Be) as the winner and I nearly had a heart attack coming down here. Luckily, they corrected it quickly. "He toughed it out well. He goes in this ground but he would not want it this soft."He was getting a bit of weight off the older horse of Nicky Henderson's (Rather Be), but I'm happy with him."He might run in the Triumph. I've got to split them up somehow and we have to run something in the Triumph. I'm not ruling it out." Coeur De Lion is available at around 33-1 for the Triumph, but he is also quoted at odds of 14-1 about winning the Fred Winter at the Festival.