Princelet looked a horse to follow when initiating a double for Nicky Henderson in the first division of the southwestracing.com novices hurdle at Taunton.

Owned by JP McManus, the 13-8 favourite earned a 33-1 quote from William Hill for the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham as he smoothly landed the spoils under Tony McCoy with a length and a half to spare from Traprain.

Jumping well throughout, Princelet bounded clear on the top turn and although Traprain closed the gap, he never looked like putting in an effective challenge.

''Mick Fitzgerald has done all the work on Princelet at home but AP (McCoy) came over to school him on Tuesday,'' explained Henderson's assistant Charlie Longsdon.

''Tony was very pleased with his jumping and said he never lost any ground in the air.

''He is still unfurnished and is a horse for the future.''

Henderson, who is on holiday, struck again when Au Courant (11-2) took the EBF National Hunt Novices' Hurdle in the hands of Fitzgerald.

With warm favourite Hot 'N' Holy unable to handle the track, Au Courant and Fitzgerald overpowered Barton Legend at the final flight before going on to score by a length and a quarter.

Longsdon added: ''This fellow is a big baby and the course today was as sharp as he would want it.

''Jumping would be the name of his game. It was only the second race of his life and he was very green.''

On what proved a good day for favourite-backers, Siberian Highness (11-10) had no trouble taking the second division of the Novices' Hurdle, scoring by 11 lengths from Dark Parade for trainer Alan King.

Siberian Highness will now have her sights set on the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham.

King said: ''Before she won first time at Warwick her work was unbelievable but then she was beaten at Folkestone when some of my horses were not quite right.

''Just recently she hasn't sparkled quite as much as she did before.

''I hope she's good enough to run in the Supreme and I will certainly enter her - the main thing is that we are back on track for the Festival.''

Nippy Des Mottes gained a second success at Taunton in as many meetings when landing the Carlsberg UK Challenge Trophy Handicap Hurdle for Paul Nicholls.

Liam Heard played a waiting game on the 6-4 favourite before quickly asserting his authority to score by five lengths from Goldbrook.

Nicholls praised Heard's riding and said: ''When he hits the front he does tend to idle and I told Liam to hang onto him a bit longer than he did last time.''

l Iris's Gift could still run at Cheltenham a week tomorrow in the Letheby & Christopher Cotswold Chase despite suffering a second successive defeat when falling at Warwick last weekend.

Connections of the nine-year-old though, are in no rush about deciding whether to commit the grey to the race formerly known as the Pillar Property Chase.

The totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, for which he is 20-1 with the sponsors, remains the main objective.

''There are no definite plans at this stage. We would like to go for the old Pillar Chase but we will have to wait and see over the weekend how we go,'' said owner Robert Lester.

''I would say for definite we'll have another run before the Gold Cup and hopefully it will be a week on Saturday where we take on some good horses.''

Winner of three novice events in the autumn, Iris's Gift was beaten by Darkness at Newbury in November but was found not to be quite right afterwards