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Chasing will be next on the agenda for the Paul Nicholls-trained Rubaud, who took the feature 1m7f Grade 2 Elite Hurdle at Wincanton on Saturday.
Now a four-time winner in Grade 2 company over hurdles, Rubaud had commenced the new campaign with a Listed success at Kempton Park in late October and was able to utilise his race fitness. Ridden by Harry Cobden, the six-year-old gelding made all and was joined by eventual second Brentford Hope at the last flight. Rubaud responded well to Cobden's urgings, jumping well and staying on in the final straight to record a one-and-a-half length victory. Aspire Tower finished another seventeen lengths adrift as the last of three finishers.
With multiple defeats against star hurdler Constitution Hill last year, trainer Paul Nicholls indicated a different route would be taken through the remainder of the season:
"He is a fantastic horse and he will go chasing now. He will not beat the likes of Constitution Hill, and we proved that last season.
"He is a great Grade Two horse and he will be a fantastic chaser as he is a brilliant jumper and he is a big scopey horse. That is his future now.
"I think he beat two good horses there that are rated higher than him and he has given them six pounds. But he is just a class horse.
"He just keeps galloping and that is the great thing about him.
"He will go to Kempton Park for the Wayward Lad Novices' Chase over Christmas," he added.
"That might be his first port of call as I don't want to over do it.
"If we find a beginners' chase first we could do that, but it wouldn't worry me if we went straight to Kempton Park.
"You might dream of an Arkle, but it is not all about Cheltenham as he didn't like it before.
"He will be a great Aintree horse, and horse for the future. I can see him run in races like the Tingle Creek as he is a proper horse."
It was a fifth winner on the card for Nicholls at his local track, with Swingin Safari justifying favouritism to land the final race – the Open National Hunt Flat Race – by a neck.
