JOY STEPS UP IN TRIP

NICKY HENDERSON admits "the trip is an issue" after supplementing Joyeuse for the two-and-a-half-mile Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham next Tuesday.

- David Yates

The JP McManus-owned daughter of No Risk At All gained an emphatic victory from a British Horseracing Authority mark of 123 in the William Hill Handicap Hurdle over two miles at Newbury last month with an eight-length supremacy from Lump Sum.