Royal runner Forth Bridge fuels Festival dreams at Musselburgh

Forth Bridge could be a rare runner for The Queen at the Cheltenham Festival as an owner-breeder after he booked his ticket with a solid display to win the bet365 Scottish Triumph Hurdle Trial at Musselburgh.Barbers Shop, who was bred by the late Queen Mother, represented Her Majesty at four Festivals.The closest Barbers Shop came was when second in the Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase in 2008, while he was seventh behind Kauto Star in the 2009 CheltenhamGold Cup. Now it looks to be the turn of Forth Bridge, who might be seen in either the JCB Triumph Hurdle or the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.The Charlie Longsdon-trained gelding repeated his previous course-and-distance success as he outpointed Irish raider Warp Factor in determined fashion.Noel Fehily set out to make all the running on Forth Bridge (9-1) and though he was headed at the third-last flight, he fought back to hold Warp Factor by three-quarters of a length.Longsdon said: "I'm delighted with him. We always thought he was a nice horse, but they have to go and do it."He loves the hurdles and he'll be a chaser in time."He's got entries at Cheltenham so we'll have to look at those two.We'll look at the options and see what the handicapper does on Tuesday and we can go from there.He's in both the Triumph and the Fred Winter. We'll have a look." It was a red-letter day for Fehily, who completed a 279-1 treble with wins on Dancing Shadow and Whispering Storm.Dancing Shadow (6-1) was produced late on the scene to land the inaugural running of the bet365 Edinburgh National Handicap Chase.Fehily played a patient game on Victor Dartnall's eight-year-old in the four-mile stamina test before unleashing him in the straight to land the prize by two and a half lengths from Gonalston Cloud.Whispering Storm (3-1 joint-favourite), trained by Neil Mulholland, was the final leg of the treble as he comfortably took the bet365.com Handicap Hurdle.Diego Du Charmil (5-1) made the long journey from Paul Nicholls' stables in Somerset worthwhile when taking the lion's share of the £50,000 in the bet365 Scottish County Handicap Hurdle.Harry Cobden rode out his claim with victory on the five-year-old, who weaved through the pack to lead at the final flight and beat Dominada by five lengths.Nicholls said: "It was a good performance. He is good fresh and good on better ground.It was good prize-money up there so we decided to go up there with him. "He is a nice horse, but one or two of ours have been running below par and you can never have confidence when a few are running like that."The race for him at Cheltenham will be the County Hurdle but I'm sure the handicapper will have a little bit of a say.We won't do a lot with him this year as he will go chasing next season." Wonderful Charm (1-2 favourite) completed a double for the Nicholls team when toying with the opposition to land the odds in the bet365 Scottish Foxhunter Open Hunters' Chase under Will Biddick.Nico de Boinville rode his first winner since returning from injury when steering Gaitway home in the bet365-sponsored maiden hurdle.However, it was pretty hard work for the Nicky Henderson-trained 1-2 shot as the pacesetting Touch Kick only gave way on the run-in.Opening his account at the Scottish track, De Boinville only returned at Catterick the day before after three months out with a broken arm."Gaitway ran a good race and it is great for Nico to have a winner," said Henderson."He got his ground up there and it looks like he wants another half a mile now."