Sam Twiston-Davies gives glowing update on Betfair Hurdle favourite Al Dancer

Sam Twiston-Davies told Racing TV on Tuesday that a rating of 141 may underestimate the powers of Betfair Hurdle favourite Al Dancer.

The six-year-old is 4-1 market leader with the sponsor for the £155,000 contest at Newbury on Saturday, when he will seek to advance his claims for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at next month's Cheltenham Festival. He is a general 12-1 for the latter race.

Nigel Twiston-Davies is seeking a third Betfair Hurdle triumph in five years after the victories of Splash Of Ginge (2014) and Ballyandy (2017). That pair are also in line to run again but it is Al Dancer who is the stable's No 1 contender.

“If the ground is soft enough, John Neild (owner) will be very keen to have a go with Splash Of Ginge and it was nice to get Ballyandy back on track at Uttoxeter last time, so he is in there, but Al Dancer is obviously the key one,” Sam Twiston-Davies told Racing TV at Market Rasen on Tuesday.

“This is his test for the Supreme and there will be a lot of questions. Al Dancer is rated higher than our previous Betfair Hurdle winners but at the same time, on what he does up the gallops, you wouldn’t be too worried about a mark of 141. You’d hope he’d be a bit better than that.”

Al Dancer was raised 12lb after his 11-length victory at Cheltenham on his latest start, where he defeated next-time-out winner Not That Fuisse.

Twiston-Davies told Niall Hannity: “There was a bit of pressure and I had a bit of a panic on because (owner) Dai Walters was there and we knew the team held him in that massive respect but he was really good. I ended up turning in and gave him a kick in the belly and he picked up really well and got the race won a little bit too soon.

“We’ve run on soft and better ground and it was a good experience at Cheltenham to get him out in front. He’s seen it and done it and we now know going to the Betfair Hurdle he’s got a lot of boxes ticked.”

Twiston-Davies is looking for the next stable star at his father’s stables in Gloucestershire after the recent retirement of The New One and Al Dancer could be next in line.

“He’s a smashing horse and a pleasure to have. He’ll jump fences in time,” Twiston-Davies said.

“With The New One gone we are very lucky in that we have lot of horses for Simon (Munir) and Isaac (Souede) but with Daryl Jacob retained by them, we need those horses to keep myself, Jamie (Bargary) and Tom Bellamy busy.

“It is nice to have a few good ones coming through.”

Getaway Trump is also carrying a degree of stable confidence ahead of this weekend's feature.

Given the good recent record of novices in the valuable handicap, trainer Paul Nicholls has had the race on his mind for some time for the six-year-old.

Only one of the last six winners has not been a novice – Gary Moore’s Violet Dancer in 2015 – and Nicholls was second with Movewiththetimes to Ballyandy two years ago.

“He is the same sort of horse as Movewiththetimes and the novices do well in these races,” he said.

“We are hoping there is some improvement in him and he worked very well with Politologue recently. He jumped well schooling this morning (on Tuesday) and is ready to go.

“He does stay, but he is quite versatile and will be a nice chaser next season. He likes soft ground – he won on heavy at Exeter and it was soft at Newbury the last day.

“He is quite keen in his races so the good gallop will suit him.

“I always had in my mind that if he ran well in the Challow then it was a good race to go for. Experienced novices have good chances in these races. He is tough so he will handle it.”

Nicholls is also running Mont Des Avaloirs, who went close over this course and distance in the Gerry Feilden but disappointed at Ascot last time out.

“We’ve always thought a lot of him and he was a decent enough hurdler last season. We started off chasing with him and we abandoned that with him, so we thought we would keep him over hurdles for another year,” said Nicholls.

“He ran very well in the Gerry Feilden and wasn’t beaten very far. You can put a line through his last run at Ascot as I ran him too quick. He ran a bit free and it never happened.

“On the day he is a real decent horse, but it has just got to go right for him. As he gets older and stronger he will get better. Whatever he does over hurdles he will be a much better chaser next season.

“He is off a mark he is capable of going close off.”