Twist Magic turns on the style to win Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot

Twist Magic, who has looked a transformed horse this season, won his third race of the campaign with a runaway victory at odds of 11-8 in the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot. The Paul Nicholls-trained gelding is now as short as 4-1 for the Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March, second favourite behind market leader and stable companion Master Minded. The winner has been inconsistent and a touch quirky in the past and was reluctant to start this time, but once the race was under way he led all the way, eventually coming home comfortably 12 lengths clear having seen off the challenge of the error-prone Petit Robin, who made mistakes at the fifth- and second-last fences. Ruby Walsh did not have things all his own way on the favourite as Tony McCoy on Petit Robin was determined to take the pair on and test Twist Magic's stamina. However, soon after he got upsides the leader Petit Robin made the first of his two bad mistakes and from then on was always fighting a losing battle. Nicholls reported afterwards that though the winner has not run well at Cheltenham before and maybe has been fazed by his appearances at the track, he feels today's winner was not 100% when he lined up against Master Minded in the Champion Chase last year and expects a much more prominent showing this March. He said: "You have got to keep him mentally sweet and he and Sam [Thomas] fell out big time in the Champion Chase last year. We have started working him on his own at home and we had to try something different as he wouldn't go up the gallops. We gave him a bit of a break after the Tingle Creek and he had his flu jab and a short holiday. "I wanted him to be at his very best today and I have never seen him look so good. He seems to have grown up and he'll head straight to Cheltenham now. On the last day's form and on this he can win the champion Chase and he is right in there." Earlier in the day the Nicholls-trained Advisor was cut to 16-1 for the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham after the Royal Ascot Racing Club-owned grey made it two from two over timber at the meeting in the Execution Ltd Juvenile Novice Hurdle. Walsh sent the 10-11 favourite about his business approaching the second-last and after taking the final flight, the pair put a comfortable three lengths between themselves and Barwell Bridge. Nicholls reported: "He won nicely at Newbury and has improved enormously since then. He is a really enthusiastic horse and jumps as well as any juvenile I have seen. The Triumph looks an open race. There is no star in there and this horse has done nothing but please me. Zaynar won this race 12 months ago and that can't be a bad pointer."