Tommy’s Oscar bids to confine a disappointing first trip to Cheltenham to the history books when he returns to the Cotswolds for Saturday’s From The Horses Mouth Podcast Arkle Challenge Trophy Trial.
The seven-year-old has been a superb flagbearer for Ann and Ian Hamilton, who train only a handful of horses from their base in Northumberland.
Following impressive handicap wins at Haydock, Doncaster and Musselburgh last season, Tommy's Oscar successfully stepped up in class for Haydock's Champion Hurdle Trial in January – earning him a shot at the Champion Hurdle itself at the Festival in March.
But after becoming worked up in the preliminaries, he was too keen to do himself justice and ultimately beat just one rival in ninth place.
Having made a successful chasing debut at Carlisle last month, connections had planned to head back to Cumbria earlier this week – but with Carlisle's Monday fixture abandoned, he has been rerouted to Cheltenham and owner Ian Hamilton is already making plans to try and avoid a similar scenario to the one that played out eight months ago.
He said: "We're setting off at 3am on Saturday morning to try to get there nice and early so he has time for some feed and a bit of rest.
"We're going to take him to the pre-parade ring when the race before is taking place because last time we took him down there were 20-odd horses coming back up and he wasn't the only one that got upset.
"We're not going to put a hood on him like we did last time either. He was very settled without one at Carlisle last month, although that is obviously a different job to Cheltenham."
Tommy's Oscar is one of seven horses declared for what looks a really informative renewal, with the Paul Nicholls-trained Monmiral and Joseph O'Brien's Irish raider Banbridge chief among his rivals.
"It's more competitive than I thought it might have been. I thought there'd be four or five runners, to be honest," Hamilton added.
"But Danny (McMenamin, jockey) came in and schooled him on Thursday morning and he seems in good form.
"It's a pity Carlisle was off as he likes a flat track really, but there's not really anywhere else to go with him with his rating, so it's the little men taking the big men on again!"
Monmiral won a Grade One juvenile hurdle at Aintree two seasons ago and only made it to the track three times last season, rounding off his campaign by chasing home Epatante in the Aintree Hurdle.
Nicholls, who could hardly be in better form, is looking forward to seeing the five-year-old get his chasing career under way.
"We were not too hard on him last season after he picked up a nasty injury at Newcastle in November, but he bounced back with a fine run at Aintree," the Ditcheat handler told Betfair.
"Monmiral was always going to be a chaser and has done plenty of schooling. I'd have preferred to start him at a smaller track a month ago, but there was nothing suitable on decent ground.
"Like some French horses he tends to jump fences a bit low, almost as if he is trying to hurdle them, so he does need to use his head and learn to adapt.
"He will be fine, but I expect him to improve with experience."
Banbridge made a successful chasing debut at Gowran, and the Cheltenham Festival winner now drops back in trip as he continues his fencing education.
"It looks a good race, but he made a nice start over fences," said O'Brien.
"He drops back in trip a little bit, but we're hoping for a nice run, and he will learn from the experience. We will be a bit clearer about where we go with him from here."
Another Festival winner in the line-up is Nicky Henderson's 2019 Triumph Hurdle champion Pentland Hills who will finally jump a fence in public having been awarded a walkover on his intended fencing bow at Huntingdon.
Owners Group syndicate manager Dan Downie said: "He's in good form and everyone is really happy with him.
"He jumps very well, but obviously it is going to be a different test tomorrow. It's a track he likes so we would be hopeful of a nice run.
"He has always jumped very well. He's not overly big, but he's athletic and measured so we are looking forward to making a start with him."
