The Nicky Henderson trained Long Run was trimmed into 5-1 (from 6-1) by William Hill after destroying his rivals in the Totesport.com Kingmaker Novices’ Chase at Warwick on Saturday.
Making his second start in Britain, the five-year-old coped with the step down in trip to two miles with a far better jumping display landing the prize by an easy 12 lengths.
However, connections are still unsure what race to go for at Cheltenham, as he is now 8-1 with William Hill for the Arkle Chase over two miles.
"He has such a high cruising speed and he has obviously got plenty of toe and plenty of stamina. It is an interesting challenge and there is no obvious solution. It is rather a bizarre position to be in to say what shall I do, as you don't normally have the choice." said owner Robert Waley-Cohen
Diamond Harry stayed at 7-1(William Hill, Ladbrokes) for Cheltenham success despite winning at Newbury beating Alan King’s Bensalem. The Nick William’s trained seven-year-old jumped less than impressively and only won by two lengths.
Bensalem who made a bad mistake which jockey Robert Thornton was lucky to survive battled on gamely to finish second and is now generally a 16-1 shot for RSA Chase.
Also seen at the weekend was the Willie Mullins trained Uimhiraceathair who dead heated with Telenor at Navan and is now 25-1 with Ladbrokes to give Mullins his fourth RSA Chase victory.
The hugely talented Punchestowns, who bids to go one better than his festival second last year, still heads the market at 3-1. Weird Al who is currently unbeaten after five starts is as big as 11-1 (Ladbrokes, William Hill and Paddy Power) to remain that way after the three mile novice chase event.
Follow this link to William Hill for all the latest markets for the Cheltenham festival 2010.