Quinlan: Kalashnikov should be favourite for festival opener

Jack Quinlan believes Kalashnikov should be favourite for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle on Tuesday and would be if he was trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Ruby Walsh.

After putting Kalashnikov through his final schooling session in Newmarket on Thursday, Quinlan, who landed the Betfair Hurdle on the five-year-old, said he was counting down the days to the Cheltenham opener "like a ten-year-old waiting for Christmas".

Amy Murphy's progressive gelding has only been beaten once in his five-race career. But Kalashnikov, who pulverised runner-up Bleu Et Rouge by four and a half lengths at Newbury, is generally 5-1 second favourite behind the Willie Mullins-trained Getabird for the Supreme.

After schooling the five-year-old over ten flights of hurdles on Newmarket's Links, the jockey said: "If this horse was trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Ruby Walsh he would be favourite for the Supreme and not Getabird, no doubt about it.

Kalashnikov : looking good

"To win the Betfair Hurdle like he did was fantastic and Barry Geraghty, who rode the second in the race, has since been very complimentary about the form and and the feel of the race."

Kalashnikov is going into the race in top form and Quinlan is getting excited. "If he gets good or good to soft ground I think he could be even better than he showed at Newbury," he added.

"If it's soft, he can cope with it and he schooled very well this morning. I'm trying not to think about the race too much but its a bit like a ten-year-old waiting for Christmas. It will really sink in when the declarations come out on Sunday."

Kalashnikov (nearside) : on the road to Cheltenham

Murphy, Newmarket's youngest trainer, was sticking to a tried and tested pattern by schooling her big hope just five days before his biggest assignment.

She said: "We brought him here to pop over a few hurdles a few days before the Betfair Hurdle so we're sticking to the same routine.

"He measures his hurdles unbelieveably well for a novice and travels so we are hoping he has a good trip around Cheltenham. Despite the recent snows, we've not missed a day with him as the Jockey Club did a fantastic job with the training grounds we won't be using that as an excuse if he gets beat."

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