Nicholls grey temptingly treated on third run back

Ibis Du Rheu likely to leave debut running over fences well behind 12.50 Chepstow

The winner of the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March, Ibis Du Rheu was thrown in at the deep end on his chase debut this season and tried to make a fist of it with Thistlecrack, taking him on in the early stages.

That was never likely to come off and it’s hard to rate the effort too highly given he was well beaten in the end, but Ibis Du Rheu shapped an awful lot better than the bare result, especially as he jumped so well and trainer Paul Nicholls said he had been hard to get fit.