Jockey Richard Johnson believes Sadler’s Risk can improve on his brilliant hurdling debut at Kempton when he runs in Saturday’s Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham.

The four-year-old won twice on the Flat for Mark Johnston and could hardly have been more impressive on his first start over timber for Philip Hobbs earlier this month, winning by 17 lengths.

He is now towards the head of the betting for the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March and will get the chance to show he handles the track this weekend.

“Hopefully he runs on Saturday. I schooled him last week and this week and he has come out of his race really well,” Johnson said.

“We all feel he should have come on a bit for that run as he’d had a fair break off the Flat before Kempton.

“He jumped nicely and showed a very good attitude.

“He’s a real strapping horse. You’d struggle to sit on him and realise he was a Flat horse, so that is a massive plus for a juvenile.”

One ride Johnson is set to miss out on is Menorah who could be in action on the same afternoon in the Lightning Novices’ Chase at Doncaster.

Although there are still question marks about his jumping, he has now won his past two starts over fences and could clash with Arkle favourite Sprinter Sacre.

“I think Menorah might go to Doncaster to get a bit more experience and on decent ground as well,” Johnson told At The Races.