Will a late Triumph contender emerge? Key quotes and angles for the Adonis

888Sport Take 'Em On Adonis Juvenile Hurdle | G2 | 2m, 4yo |ITV4/RTV

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It has been nine years since Nicky Henderson took the wraps off Soldatino in this race ahead of his win in the Triumph.

The same Simon Munir and Isaac Souede silks will be worn here by homebred Fusil Raffles, who debuts for Seven Barrows having run twice over hurdles last summer for Guillaume Macaire.

The form of a win and a narrow defeat when conceding lumps of weight is not easily translated in the context of the opposition here, but Henderson's assistant, Toby Lawes, believes there is plenty to like about the four-year-old.

"He's a very nice horse who has really strengthened up over the past year," said Lawes. "Earlier he wouldn't have necessarily looked as sharp as something like Adjali, but he's grown into himself really nicely and looks like a horse with plenty of scope. We’ll find out a lot here."

Fusil Raffles faces a dozen rivals in what is often the last chance for serious contenders to emerge for the JCB Triumph Hurdle.

King set for hat-trick bid

Alan King has saddled the winner of this race in each of the last two years, courtesy of Master Blueyes and Redicean.

Traditionally strong in the juvenile hurdling department, King sends Giving Glances, who returned to winning ways in a Listed race at Doncaster, as well as Praeceps.

"Giving Glances had to work quite hard to win at Doncaster last time but I'm sure she's better than that and I'd like to give her another run before the Fred Winter," said King.

The form of Praeceps's win at Market Rasen was done few favours by the runner-up finishing a distant seventh at Warwick on Friday, but King is keen to get more experience into the son of Canford Cliffs, who was rated 79 on the Flat when trained by Sir Mark Prescott.

He said: "Praeceps needs a third run to qualify for the Fred Winter and the way he won at Market Rasen last time showed he had learnt plenty from his jumping debut at Newbury."

What the others say

Gary Moore, trainer of Beat The Judge
I’d like to think he’s better than he showed at Ascot, though he’ll need to be because it’s the toughest race he’s faced. The track seems to suit him and I hope there'll be plenty of pace.

Harry Derham, assistant to Paul Nicholls, trainer of Ecco, Red Force One and Deadline Diva
Ecco had some good form on the Flat but it's taken time to get him right. It looks a good race to start him off with but we're just hoping he can go well. Red Force One ran well on the all-weather last time at Kempton and he's been schooling well at home so fingers crossed he'll go nicely. Deadline Diva just needs her confidence back after a bit of a nasty fall last time. Hopefully she'll settle better and give herself a bit more of a chance.

Tom George: trains Petit Palais

Tom George, trainer of Petit Palais
He won nicely at Ludlow first time out for us and has some nice Flat form despite being lightly raced, notably behind Verdana Blue. He’s a half-brother to 2,000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold.

Dan Skelton, trainer of Protektorat
That he's had a recent run is a benefit to him because he’s really had only one run for us after he fell early on first time out. I think he'll have learnt an awful lot from last time, when he probably paid for trying to go with Fakir D’oudairies at the top of the hill and maybe didn’t get home quite as well as we expected. It’s a very deep race. I’d like to think he’ll be competitive but I’m not going there thinking I’ll be annoyed if he doesn’t win."

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