Quantitativeeasing has doubled in price with Coral (16-1 from 8-1) for the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham after being beaten at Kempton.
The Nicky Henderson trained five-year-old ridden by Tony McCoy had previously been unbeaten in three starts over hurdles. However, stepping up in trip to two and a half miles saw the short price favourite go down by a neck behind the unfancied Evan Williams trained Phidippides.
Travelling well for the majority of the way, the son of Mazuma couldn’t get passed the winner who kept pulling out more all the way to the finish.
Nicky Henderson said of the runner-up: "AP (McCoy) was perfectly happy with him and we won't do anything different with him.
"He has been beaten, but this isn't the end day and he'll head straight to Cheltenham for the Neptune Investment Novices' Hurdle."
The winner Phidippides will bypass the Cheltenham festival and most likely head straight to Aintree but his trainer believes him to be an exciting over fences next year.
Dermot Weld’s Rite Of Passage is the current favourite for the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle, to find out all the latest ante post prices follow this link to Coral.