Trainer Fergal O'Brien expects Sixmilebridge to perform better at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival than he did last March.
Trained by Ben Pauling last season, the six-year-old - who is owned by The Megsons - was beaten 44 lengths as a 33/1 chance in last season's Weatherbys Champion Bumper but is now on track to set the record straight in the Turners Novices' Hurdle.
Sixmilebridge is no bigger than 16/1 in the antepost lists for the Festival this time around having taken his record to 3-4 over timber with a resounding eight and a half-length success over Potters Charm in the AIS Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham on Trials Day.
New trainer O'Brien was delighted with what he's seen and expects another bold show in six weeks' time.
Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast, he said: "It was always our plan to go for that Grade 2 after he won at Huntingdon, we wanted to see how he would handle Cheltenham again.
"He didn't handle the Festival race (Weatherbys Champion Bumper) very well, he got very worked up, but on Saturday we had a hood (before the race) and some ear-plugs on him and he handled the day much better.
"Kielan (Woods, jockey) was very positive about him going there, that's why he rode him very forward - he rode him like he was the best horse in the race and as it turned out on the day, he was the best horse in the race.
"He'll be in the Supreme as well, just to give us options in case it came up very heavy or anything, but the Turners is the race. He's a very exciting horse and we're lucky to have him.
"He's very fast at home, when we got him from Ben he said he was a sort of sickly horse so he lives out a lot, but he's a lovely horse. He's a bit quirky in the preliminaries but in the race and at home he's pretty straightforward."
Meanwhile, O'Brien is going back to the drawing board with Betfair Cleeve Hurdle fifth Crambo, who "just didn't look as comfortable as he does going around Ascot or places like that."
He also provided a brief update on Dysart Enos, saying: "She'll end up going to the Kingwell at Wincanton I'd have thought. We looked at the Irish Champion Hurdle, were going to look at the Unibet Hurdle last Saturday but we were worried about the rain. What she needs to do is go back to the smaller fields, that will suit her I think."
