Rooster goes for double
As well as attempting to regain his Smurfit Champion Hurdle crown on Tuesday, the grey will run in the Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle on the last day of the meeting.
Hobbs stressed that the gelding will only miss out on Friday’s handicap if he fails to please the trainer after his run in the Champion.
He said: “Richard Johnson worked Rooster Booster this morning up the grass and was very pleased with him.
“It seems on the cards that at long last he will have a truly-run race when he steps out for the Champion.
“All along I have said that if he was a selling hurdler he would run 20 times in a single season, and if he’s OK after Tuesday’s race it is very likely he will then run in the County.
“It would be even more on the cards if he happened to win the Champion again, as he wouldn’t pick up a penalty.”
Hobbs is realistic in his assessment of his star, and he continued: “He is now 11 and certainly not getting any better, so a place finish rather than winning is what I’m expecting, although he’s never shown any signs of deterioration at home and seems to be in the form of his life.”
One of the more interesting horses in the Hobbs team is Farmer Jack, for whom an appearance at next week’s prestigious meeting is still up in the air.
Hobbs has not completely discarded the idea of supplementing the Racing Post Chase winner into the Gold Cup, although he reckons the chance of it happening is “slim”.
