Kasakh Noir made an impressive start to life under Dan Skelton by leaving his rivals toiling in the Q Associates Juvenile Hurdle at Newbury.
Kasakh Noir made an impressive start to life under Dan Skelton by leaving his rivals toiling in the Q Associates Juvenile Hurdle at Newbury.
Handling the soft conditions best of them all in the extended two-mile affair, the 4-1 shot drew right away from his rivals to make his debut over hurdles a successful one.
Settled well off the early pace cut out by Major Mac, the three-year-old moved to the head of the field over the second-last in effortless fashion.
With the assistance of the stands rail, the winner relentlessly galloped on up the run-in before being eased down by Harry Skelton close to the line for a 16-length success from The Coffee Hunter.
Following the race he was given an opening quote of 14-1 for the JCB Triumph Hurdle by Paddy Power.
The winning trainer said: "That was good. We've not had him that long. He was ultra impressive in his bumper win in France and unusually for France it was over two and a quarter miles and he was relentless in it.
"He has been very precocious at home since he has started and he was either going to be really impressive or gassy and fall in a heap after two out.
"We are not going to go to Chepstow with him, he will probably go to Kempton the day after Boxing Day, then in the New Year we will look at the Adonis and he will have an entry in the Triumph.
"He is a big horse and he will be a chaser. He has got to back this up now as this was not the Triumph Hurdle . He does need to go forward, but given the circumstances there should be significant improvement."