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Nicky Henderson’s Shanagh Bob remained unbeaten by winning the Grade 2 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham today.
The son of Mahler made a winning debut under rules at Plumpton and took the step up in class in his stride when powering up the Cheltenham hill this afternoon.
The Henderson-trained five-year-old took some stoking up around the Prestbury Park venue but his stamina came to the fore when drawing alongside long-time leader Moon D'Orange and the hat-trick seeking Destroytheevidence approaching the final hurdle.
Nicky Henderson insisted he was 'pleasantly surprised' after Shanagh Bob maintained his unbeaten record by taking a step up in class in his stride with victory in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham today.
Jockey Nico de Boinville had to get serious with the Joe Donnelly-owned five-year-old, but he responded to every call his rider threw at him and stayed on strongly to land the three-mile Grade 2 prize by a length and a quarter.
Henderson said: "He has come from one ordinary novice hurdle at Plumpton into a Grade Two. I was looking for a three-mile race for him and stumbled across this.
"You always felt as if he was learning. He looked like he kept finding ways to get beaten. He is a really lovely, honest, hardy person that has got his whole life in front of him.
"He just needs to learn a bit. He doesn't know what he is doing yet, and I don't think he knew what he was doing there to be honest with you.
"Nico said he doesn't think he is there yet, but he tries very hard. It is a long way from Plumpton to here in one step. I'm pleasantly surprised.
"I was even more surprised when the early call over came over for this race and he was favourite. I'm not sure I saw that at Plumpton, but there you go.
"The more he does the better he will get. That was a great race to win, but he will be a chaser at the end of the day.
"Nico has gone down the positive route on a young horse that doesn't know a lot. He has been brave on him as well as helping him all the way. He only looked as if he was going to win at the end. He has done very well, and I can only think there is a lot of improvement to come.
"He is very hardy and takes everything in his stride. The other morning, he was just having a breeze and me and Charlie (Morlock) both agreed that he had sharpened up a lot from Plumpton."
On the back of the race, Shanagh Bob was trimmed into 20-1 for the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, which Henderson last won with subsequent Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Bob's Worth in 2011, which is likely to be his long-term target.
Henderson added: "This is the road to it (the Albert Bartlett), but let's see how things go before we jump into that water as there is a long way to go before that.