'I wouldn't swap Pacify for any other horse in Supreme trial' – Snowden

Sky Bet Supreme Trial Novices' Hurdle (Grade 2) 4yo+ | 2m87y | ITV4/RTV

A race whose roll of honour this decade includes Cue Card, Dodging Bullets, Altior and Elixir De Nutz, it will be worth following whichever of these five promising horses comes out on top.

Carrying the hopes of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Pacify has earned plenty of respect in compiling a perfect record over hurdles since joining Jamie Snowden from Ralph Beckett, although he's saddled with a 5lb penalty for his Listed success at Kempton last month

"He has the battle-hardened edge and the confidence of five wins on the bounce that perhaps some of his rivals don't have," said Snowden. "He was a very good Flat horse and has taken well to jumping."

Snowden added: "He wanted softer ground on the Flat and on official ratings his best run was at Newton Abbot over two miles two furlongs on slightly softer ground, so while the ground is an unknown, I wouldn't swap him for any other horse in the race."

Ecco: made it two from two for the season at Ascot earlier this monthCredit: Mark Cranham

Ecco outran odds of 100-1 when sixth to Pentland Hills in the JCB Triumph Hurdle and Paul Nicholls has already managed to get a couple of confidence-boosting wins into the son of Maxios this season.

"He has won two small races in the way we wanted him to win." said Nicholls. "He is a horse we like and he is progressive. We aimed him quite high last season but he needed time. We always thought he would improve this season."

Scardura ran with some promise on his only start under rules in Ireland but left that effort far behind when bolting up by 16 lengths on debut for Neil Mulholland at Taunton last month.

Mulholland said: "We think he's very good and he's come out of the race very well. The second has won since, he's unexposed and an exciting horse for us to have.

Scardura: won by 16 lengths on his debut for Neil Mulholland at TauntonCredit: Alan Crowhurst

"The ground is a bit of an unknown but we may as well found out at this stage of his career rather than in a bigger race. He's got plenty of speed but he'll definitely stay and we're very hopeful he'll be fine on it."

The only one of the five yet to win over hurdles is Eden De Houx, who was three from three in bumpers but whose Fontwell conqueror I K Brunel failed to advertise the form in the opener at Cheltenham on Saturday.

Pipe said: "We're going back to two miles and there are a couple of Flat horses in there that might have a bit more pace than us, but we think it’s worth a try on this ground and we should learn a lot more."

After three promising runs for Mags Mullins, Hang In There was carried out at the first hurdle on his debut for Emma Lavelle at Exeter. The £60,000 purchase made no mistake, however, when returning there 12 days later.

"We think a lot of him," said Lavelle. "He has a high cruising speed and is very nimble with his jumping when something isn't trying to wipe him out.

"He's a strong traveller and, while we won't know about the ground until we run him on it, I couldn't be happier with his preparation."

Get exclusive insight from the track and live tipping with Raceday Live – our up-to-the-minute service on racingpost.com and the Racing Post mobile app