Barters Hill shows his strength

Now unbeaten from seven starts, the Ben Pauling-trained Grade One winner remains ante-post favourite for the three-mile Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

“I schooled him on Tuesday and he felt really, really good,” said Bass. “His profile is unbelievable and I cannot think of many horses who have done what he has at this stage of their career.

“To win four Bumpers and three novice hurdles, including very good races at Aintree, Newbury and Doncaster is some achievement and the form is working out everywhere. He is not a slow horse by any means and I know Ben gets quite annoyed when people call him that.

“It just takes a bit of persuasion to get Barters Hill into top gear, but he has got a good cruising speed and stays really well which is what you need for those championship races over three miles. I think he has an outstanding chance in the Albert Bartlett.

“I was actually delighted with him at Doncaster. He got an easy lead in his first two hurdles runs at Huntingdon and Newbury whereas this time he had a horse on his girth the whole way. He was just doing enough and was never letting a horse get past him. I felt we learnt a lot and he probably needed a race like that before Cheltenham just to harden him up.

“He will never be impressive and just does what he needs to do – you can see that from his Bumper performances.

“I thought he could be something special when we beat Buveur D’Air in the Listed bumper at Newbury.

“Buveur D’Air is a very talented horse with loads of pace and he just could not get past.”

Bass also revealed that Kim Bailey’s Charbel, victorious at Musselburgh on Sunday, will head for the two-mile Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – Cheltenham’s curtain-raiser.

“Stamina is his forte but he isn’t slow and I can see him running a big race,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tom George will put the finishing touches to Saint Are’s Crabbie’s Grand National preparation in a veterans’ race at Doncaster on February 24.

George has campaigned the 10-year-old sparingly since the stayer won a prep race at Catterick 12 months ago before finishing a gutsy second to Many Clouds at Aintree.

Though Saint Are was seventh to the Jimmy Moffatt-trained and Henry Brooke-ridden Highland Lodge in Aintree’s Betfred Becher Chase in December, the trainer believes the better weather will suit the chaser.

“Saint Are is really starting to come to himself, he’s definitely a spring horse,” said George. “He worked a couple of days ago and you could really see the change.

“We purposefully kept him quiet after the Becher and he’s building up now towards a veterans’ race at Doncaster in a couple of weeks. The weights are out just before it, but I’d imagine the handicapper knows exactly where he wants him.”