Quel Destin and Mohaayed top Greatwood contenders

Welsh Champion Hurdle winner Monsieur Lecoq also in mix.

Prolific juvenile winner Quel Destin and 2017 County Hurdle scorer Mohaayed head the weights among 19 confirmations for the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle a Cheltenham.

Quel Destin, trained by Paul Nicholls, won five times last term and got off to a good start this campaign with victory on this course last month.

Nicholls also has Red Force One in the reckoning as he looks to win Sunday’s valuable event for a fourth time.

The Dan Skelton-trained Mohaayed has been beaten in the Greatwood for the last two years, and was last of 10 in the Welsh Champion Hurdle on his return.

Monsieur Lecoq, who won that Ffos Las feature, is among the possibles for Jane Williams – as is recent all the Ascot winner Gumball, from the Philip Hobbs stable.

Nicky Henderson has cut his entries down to just two – last season’s County Hurdle third Countister and Dame De Compagnie, who has been absent since winning a Listed mares’ novices’ hurdle at Cheltenham in April 2018.

“They both worked very well on Saturday,” said Henderson.

“They are both JP’s (McManus, owner), but he is quite happy to run them both if that is the case.

There are two Irish-trained possibles – Tony Martin’s Golden Spear and Hannon, from John McConnell’s stable.

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