Gordon Elliott would not swap Carlito Brigante for any other horse in next month’s JCB Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

The former David Wachman inmate has won three of his four starts over obstacles, including an impressive success over another leading Triumph Hurdle hope in Alaivan at Leopardstown. Subsequent success for the latter means he is actually the shorter of the two in ante-post lists, but Elliott is not concerned.

“He’s in very good form at the moment and the plan would be for him to work after racing at either Navan on Saturday or Leopardstown on Sunday,” said Elliott. After that he’ll go straight to Cheltenham for the Triumph Hurdle and we’ll see what happens. Maybe Alaivan is shorter because Edward O’Grady trains him, but I think we beat him fair and square at Leopardstown. We’ve also gone on and won again at Musselburgh since and I think Cheltenham will suit our horse very well. He tough, improving and will love the hill, so I wouldn’t swap him for anything else in the race.”