Racing: Rooster still more reliable than dazzling Rhinestone

There were four inspections at Sandown on Saturday, but even the dripping turf at Esher was not as well scrutinised as the performance of the horse which had gone into the Agfa Hurdle as favourite for the Champion Hurdle.

Rooster Booster won the race but not the hearts (if they have them) nor the calculating minds of the bookmakers, who extended the odds of Philip Hobbs's gelding for the Festival's first-day highlight after he made a dog's breakfast of beating Self Defense by half a length. It was a race in which the grey had almost two stones in hand on official figures.

In the circumstances, it would be cheering to hear a post-race medical bulletin involving at least an all-over rash or maybe even life-support machines, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with Rooster Booster when he emerged to take the Bristol Channel air at his Minehead yard yesterday. "He's fine, absolutely no problems at all," Hobbs said.

Rooster Booster actually looked as though he might lose at one point on Saturday, but rallied, either because he could see Self Defense in his eye or feel Richard Johnson on his flanks. When this sort of thing happens, the first lifebelt a trainer sees is the idea that his horse was waiting for company in front, that he had bags more in hand than the winning margin suggested.

This theory would hold more water than a colander if Rooster Booster had not already proved this season that he can knuckle down without the spur of a challenger at his quarters. He has gone clear on the run-in before this campaign, both at Kempton and Cheltenham.

"There were a few palpitations half-way up the run-in on Saturday, but he has won after all," Hobbs said. "I think he has just had a look around once he has got to the front. But he did win and that was all that was needed. As well as that he has won five of his last six now."

What remains indisputable is that Rooster Booster is one of the most improved hurdlers in training, a horse considered wickedly handicapped until he collected the County Hurdle at last March's Festival.

"It seems the handicapper was right in that he was improving all the time," Hobbs added. "There are two possibilities about why that improvement has been so marked this season. The first is that being able to get his head in front in the County Hurdle gave him that bit more confidence. Secondly, he's been trained mainly on our Polytrack gallop, rather than on wood chip, and he's moving a great deal better. He's probably a sounder horse now."

Hobbs, though, sees many feathers poking out from behind the boulders. "There are plenty of dangers in the Champion," he said. "Intersky Falcon for one, and then there's Like-A-Butterfly, who must be a worry as she's only been beaten once. Rhinestone Cowboy would be a danger if he went there as well."

The last-named was also in action on Saturday, when the Rossington Main Hurdle at Wetherby was supposed to provide his most taxing hurdling assignment yet. The paperwork will tell you the seven-year-old beat Always Rainbows and Stormy Lord by one and a quarter lengths and a half, but those statistics lie and do not give true indication of his mastery.

Indeed, Jonjo O'Neill's runner has so far let us know little about the scope of his ability. He has won by a neck at Cheltenham and by three-quarters of a length on his hurdling debut at Newbury. We do not yet know what sort of cowboy he is, either the one with the shimmering revolvers or the bar stool charlatan. Even now, the trusty town blacksmith qualities of Rooster Booster look more persuasive.

Further Festival clues emerged from the envelope at Punchestown yesterday when Moscow Flyer, last year's Arkle Chase winner, completed his pre-Cheltenham programme with a win in the Tied Cottage Chase.

"Moscow Flyer doesn't like being in front so soon," Jessica Harrington, the trainer, said. Although Barry [Geraghty] said he thought it was just as well to school him in front when he wanted to go on. That's it now before we go to Cheltenham. He had a good blow and it should leave him right for the Queen Mother Champion Chase."

There will be a dilution of the Irish team following the announcement that Bannow Bay will not be back for another tilt at the Stayers' Hurdle, in which he was a close second to Baracouda last year. Christy Roche's horse has a damaged knee and, when he returns, it will be in the guise of a chaser.

CHAMPION HURDLE (Cheltenham, 11 March) Ladbrokes: 9-2 Intersky Falcon, 6-1 Like A Butterfly, 6-1 (from 8-1) Rhinestone Cowboy, 6-1 (from 9-2) Rooster Booster, 10-1 Hors La Loi, 14-1 Flame Creek, 16-1 Landing Light, 20-1 Marble Arch, Santenay, 25-1 others.

CHAMPION CHASE (12 March) Ladbrokes: 3-1 (from 7-2) Moscow Flyer, 9-2 Cenkos, 6-1 Flagship Uberalles, 7-1 Edredon Bleu, 10-1 Florida Pearl, Native Upmanship, 14-1 Lady Cricket, Seebald, 16-1 Fondmort, 20-1 Tiutchev, 25-1 others

PUNCHESTOWN: 2.30 1. MOSCOW FLYER (B J Geraghty) 2-7 fav; 2. Copernicus 12-1; 3. Commanche Court 7-1. 5 ran. 9, 4. (Mrs J Harrington). Tote: £1.20; £1.10, £2.10. Exacta: £3.50. CSF: £5.07.