Stars bids to shine at Cheltenham
Despite making several errors, Paul Keane’s second-season novice ran a fine race to finish just over seven lengths behind impressive winner Trabolgan at Newbury.
Keane has the Scottish National in April as the seven-year-old’s end-of-season target but would like to give him one more run before a break.
“He’s in very good form and is going to run as I don’t think the ground will dry out too much,” said the Dorset-based handler.
“I have had a long chat with his co-owner and we are making the Scottish National the long-term plan, but that is light years away in racing terms.
“Because his owner is back in the country before Christmas, we decided to give him one more run and then hold him back for the spring.
“I think he is crying out for four miles but I don’t want to expose him over it until Scotland.
“He did run a very good race at Newbury although he only had a feather-weight but if he hadn’t missed the fence three-out, I felt that he might have got a length or two closer.”
Meanwhile, Richard Ford can find no obvious reasons for Forest Gunner’s disappointing performance at Kelso last Sunday.
The 11-year-old, who was fifth in the John Smith’s Grand National, produced a lifeless display in the Eastwood Bookmakers Champion Chase, eventually being pulled up.
Tests on the Gunner B gelding revealed no problems, leaving Ford to assume top weight of 11st 9lb was to blame for the poor showing.
He said: “He came home, ate up and seems as bright as a button.
“The jury is out as to what happened. My only explanation is that he is only a little horse and he was carrying a lot of weight.
“We had his blood tested and it was perfectly normal before and after the race.
“I don’t know what I will do now - we will have to go back to the drawing board. We will give him a rest for a few days, but he is not an easy horse to keep sound.
“There are not a lot of options off the mark he is on, and that race was as weak a race as I could find, but we will wait and see if his mark is reassessed and we’ll take it from there.”
