Nusret ran out a determined winner of the Coral Adonis Juvenile Hurdle at Kempton, advertising the claims of a couple of fellow Irish-trained contenders for the Triumph Hurdle in the process.
Well beaten by Lossiemouth and Blood Destiny on his last two runs, he was providing trainer Joseph O’Brien with a third Grade Two four-year-old hurdle prize in Britain this season after the successes of Comfort Zone at Chepstow and Cheltenham.
The race changed in complexion when the front-running Sarsons Risk came down at the last flight in the back straight when still going well.
Several runners were hampered, including the eventual winner, but it left Perseus Way in front and Jamie Moore kicked a couple of lengths clear.
Rare Middleton briefly flattered, but Daryl Jacob was biding his time on Nusret and a mistake at the last by Perseus Way enabled the 7-2 chance to come home a length and a quarter clear.
Scriptwriter, who went into the race as one of Britain’s leading Triumph Hurdle aspirants, faded tamely after a mistake.
The winner was cut to 5-1 from 8s for the Boodles Fred Winter at Cheltenham.
Jacob said: “He’s a lovely horse. His Punchestown win was very good while the ground at Leopardstown was a bit soft for him.
“His preferred angle is going right-handed but we’re very, very happy to have him.
“I managed to sidestep the faller and actually didn’t lose that much ground.
“After that it was pretty straightforward, let’s hope he will go to Cheltenham where it would be the Boodles.”
O’Brien said: “I thought it was a great ride from Daryl and it was a very pleasing performance.
“He appeared to enjoy going on a bit nicer ground. It was a nice race to go for. Anthony Bromley [racing manager to Simon Munir and Isaac Souede] thought it would be a good spot for him and I have to give him credit for suggesting the idea.
“We were hopeful he would run like that as that is why we went there. We had a form line through Scriptwriter [who was beaten by Comfort Zone at Cheltenham] and we thought he was the one to beat, but we thought our horse would at least be competitive with him.
“Daryl thinks he is better going right-handed but there aren’t many options right-handed before Punchestown. He will have the option of going to Cheltenham and there will be options at Aintree as well.
“We will see how he comes out of it and sit down with Daryl, Anthony, Simon and Isaac and work out where to go. I suppose the Boodles would be the obvious race but we will see how he comes out of it and what the guys want to do.”
