Dominant Tizzard star hits heights he reached over hurdles

It's rare for a horse that achieved the sort of rating Thistlecrack (178+) managed over hurdles to reproduce that level of form over fences, but in landing the King George on just his fourth run over the bigger obstacles he did just that.

Admittedly with stablemate Cue Card (166) failing to run up to scratch in what turned into a fairly tactical affair, it wasn't a vintage running of the race and, but for falling at the last, fellow novice Might Bite (162+) would surely have bettered Thistlecrack's winning time in the earlier Grade 1 novice chase.

However, in no way does the final winning margin of just over three lengths reflect the dominance of last season's World Hurdle winner. He was around 12 lengths clear of dual winner Silviniaco Conti (166) at both the third-last and second-last, and that gap could probably have at least been maintained had Tom Scudamore so desired.