Royal Emperor - relished the conditions.

Sue Smith celebrated her birthday in style when Royal Emperor booked his place in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup field with a fine staying performance in the Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock Park.

But the Bingley-based trainer was unfortunate not to complete a one-two, either way, as stablemate Patriarch Express stumbled on landing over the final flight having been upsides Royal Emperor and looking as though he might well have got the better of the argument.

There were no stamina flaws in Royal Emperor's armoury despite the heavy ground, however, and he made all the running under Padge Whelan, keeping on well on the run-in to pass the post with 19 lengths to spare over the French raider Millenium Royal.

Crystal D'Ainay was hampered by Sh Boom at the fifth-last when in third and he had given best before the straight.

Mrs Smith, 58, said of the 10-1 winner: "He had a year off with a problem behind his knee, it wasn't anything serious but he was too good a horse to try and rush and we gave him all the time he needed to get right again.

"It hasn't been easy to find really suitable races for him since he came back, he is a fairly stuffy horse and needs to run, and he had to do something serious today if he was going to go to Cheltenham.

"He has done it well and his owners were keen to leave him in at Cheltenham so that is the plan, he goes around there all right, he has been very narrowly beaten in both the SunAlliance Chase and the Pertemps Hurdle and there is a nice three weeks now before the Gold Cup."

Royal Emperor also holds the John Smith's Grand National entry and Mrs Smith added: "We will have to see what his owners would like to do, but we will get Cheltenham out of the way first."

Francois Doumen said of Millenium Royal: "He was helped by the ground, he loves it and he ran a very clean second place. I think he should definitely run in the Ladbrokes (World Hurdle), he loves that distance (three miles) and anyway in France there is nothing for him to run in over that distance at the moment.

"I think his owners would be keen to run him in that race against Baracouda, he is still there of course!"

Doumen's other runner Blue Canyon was the more fancied of the pair in the betting, but he finished only fifth and the trainer went on: "Blue Canyon missed the last hurdle before the straight and after that he wasn't that keen, though he had been too keen at the beginning.

"He might find that trip too long as well, but I am disappointed by his run and I think we must go to handicaps now, maybe he is not to the level of the World Hurdle."

The sponsors make Baracouda 9-2 favourite for the stayers' crown, with Patriarch Express a 20-1 chance.