Solwhit run still up in the air

SOLWHIT remains a major doubt for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham next Tuesday, having scoped badly on Monday.

Speaking at Clonmel yesterday his trainer, Charles Byrnes, reported: “He was a bit better today, but we are running out of days.

“He did his three canters for Keith (Schous), who said you wouldn’t know there was anything wrong with the horse.

“If the race was here at home, at Leopardstown, he would probably run, but the travelling worries me. It is really disappointing for the owners.

“The plan is the same. He will be scoped again on Saturday morning and a decision, as to whether he will go or not, will then be made.”

Meanwhile Binocular is likely to run in the race should he please connections in a crucial final workout today.

Only last month trainer Nicky Henderson ruled Binocular out of the big race, in which he was a close third 12 months ago, due to a muscle problem.

However, the JP McManus-owned gelding has shown notable signs of improvement and Henderson believes the horse is on the way back to his best with the Tuesday feature looming large.

Binocular came through a vital test on Wednesday when champion jockey Tony McCoy schooled him over 13 flights of hurdles at Henderson’s stables in Lambourn.

“He had a hiccup, but he’s back now. He’s in really good form, AP (McCoy) came down and schooled him yesterday and we think we are three-quarters of the way to getting him back to where we need him to be,” the Seven Barrows trainer told talkSPORT.

“There’s just one more bit of work to do tomorrow when again AP’s going to come and ride him. And if he’s happy there I think we’ll give him the green light.

“He hasn’t impressed everybody all season. He won his last start very easily, but even so it wasn’t quite the same Binocular we know we can have.”

Henderson takes hope from the fact Binocular was only beaten a length and a half by current favourite Go Native in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton despite being under par.

“We weren’t happy with him on the day, it wasn’t him, yet he was still only beaten a length and a half by Go Native, so we only have to find two lengths and we are back where we are,” Henderson remarked.

The trainer has two other big guns in the Champion – last year’s winner Punjabi and 2009 Triumph Hurdle victor Zaynar.

He said of the latter: “I’m very happy with Zaynar. There was that debacle when we went to Kelso (beaten at 1-14) but we had to get runs into these horses.

“We were having to use races we wouldn’t normally go for, but the ground was horrible and he got beaten for the first time. That was disappointing but excusable.

“He’s back here in good form and he schooled the other day. He’s in very good order, at the end of the day you’ll find him going further than two miles but at the moment he’s a very smart horse.”