Menorah Works Out With Eye on Champion Hurdle Coup

The feature race on the opening day of this year’s Cheltenham Festival looks to be heating up nicely with an emphatic declaration from Philip Hobbs that his stand-out jumper Menorah is working “brilliantly” for the Champion Hurdle.

Last year’s Supreme Novices’ Winner has run Grade 2 and 3 efforts at Cheltenham in his only two attempts this year, winning both contests with impressive driving performances on the run-in.

Speaking to At The Races following Menorah’s Tuesday morning on the gallops, Hobbs declared that “we’ve stepped up his work earlier than anticipated… I couldn’t be more happy with him and I think there’s still room for improvement.” The future looks bright for Menorah regardless of the outcome as Hobbs elaborated on his future plans. “… the worst situation, which isn’t too bad, is that he gets beaten in the Champion Hurdle and then we go novice chasing next year. I suppose if he wins the Champion Hurdle, we’d have to aim for another one.”

Punters will find Menorah well in the mix with leading contender Binocular and the in-form Hurricane Fly. Binocular can be backed as low as 11/4 while Hurricane Fly ranges anywhere from 7/2 to 5/1.

Menorah completes the trident of top contenders with a listing that has just been cut down to 4/1.