Solo's runaway triumph

A French colt gives Paul Nicholls his fifth Adonis win, while a promising young jockey takes the day’s most valuable race

- MARCUS ARMYTAGE

Kempton Park Racecourse, Surrey

DESPITE being something of a last-chance saloon as far as racecourse action is concerned for Cheltenham Festival horses, Kempton Park’s Betway Chase Day has a good record at producing Cheltenham winners; the standout candidate for a gold medal in a fortnight was the Paul Nicholls-trained Solo.

The recent French import, who is still a colt, ran away with the Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Adonis Juvenile Hurdle. He led from halfway and came home 13 lengths clear of Fujimoto Flyer — a Japanesebred, French-raced and now Irish-trained filly who did her cause little good by pulling.

It was the fifth time Nicholls has won the Adonis and he will be hoping Solo, a 15-length winner at Auteuil when last seen out in the autumn in France, emulates Zarkanda, the only one to go on and win the Triumph Hurdle.

Some smart Cheltenham winners have been colts or full horses in the past, including champion hurdlers Alderbrook and Monksfield, both of whom went on to have careers as stallions. However, even though Solo is by the well-regarded Kapgarde and has a potential stallion career were he to win the Triumph, Nicholls has pencilled him in for a trip to vet at the end of the current season in May.