Alan King had nine Cheltenham Festival winners in just four seasons between 2006 and 2009, but the story of his fortunes since Uxizandre gave him his last success at the meeting in 2015 also tells a tale of the losing battle of British stables against their Irish counterparts. King’s 80 runners have all been beaten, and only Yanworth, a defeated favourite in both 2016 and 2019, has set off at the head of the betting. In Tritonic, though, he seems to have his best chance of a 16th Festival winner for at least four years, and the four-year-old seems certain to lead the home challenge in the Triumph Hurdle against Zanahiyr, Quilixios and French Aseel, Ireland’s main contenders, who are unbeaten in eight starts between them. Tritonic completed an ideal preparation in the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle here, travelling and quickening effortlessly for Adrian Heskin before easing 10 lengths clear of Casa Loupi at the line. He was cut to around 4-1 from 8-1 to win the opening race on Gold Cup day, and is the only British-trained entry shorter than 14-1 in the betting. King has won with Triumph twice before with recruits from the Flat, but neither Penzance in 2005 nor Katchit in 2007, who took the Champion Hurdle a year later, had a rating on the level to match Tritonic, who was a half-length runner-up off 95 in a handicap at Royal Ascot in June. “He’s the highest-class Flat horse I’ve ever sent jumping,” King said. “We wanted to get a bit more experience into him before Cheltenham and he will have learned plenty going down the inside today. “Once or twice he’s gone to sleep, but as soon as Adrian has given him a squeeze he’s straight back on the bridle. “Everything impressed me today. I loved the way he went away from the last and he hit the line really well, which is a good sign.” Cape Gentlemen, the winner of the Dovecote Novice Hurdle, is also likely to head to Cheltenham next month. Although he is a 25-1 shot for the Ballymore Novice Hurdle, the way he battled back to edge Calico suggests he could be a tough opponent to pass on the climb to the line. Aintree in April, though, is a likelier destination for two more of the day’s winners. Clondaw Castle, who took the £42,000 prize in the Close Brothers Handicap Chase, could be steered towards the Betway Bowl. Meanwhile, the Pendil Novice Chase winner, Tamaroc Du Mesnil, is pencilled in for the Grade One Manifesto Novice Chase. The start of the Flat season on turf will follow hard on the heels of Cheltenham and there was news of an unexpected new recruit to the training ranks. Darryll Holland, one of the best jockeys of the 1990s and 2000s, revealed he will train from Harraton Court Stables in Newmarket this year, with the six-times champion jockey Kieren Fallon as his assistant. “It will be different working with Kieren for a change,” Holland said. “We were rivals in the saddle but we’ve become good mates. We’ve got a wealth of knowledge that you can’t buy, 70 years between us. “The pair of us have been around the world twice, ridden in most countries and if we can’t get a winner between us, there’s something wrong.”