Garden likely to be dropped in trip

MONET’S GARDEN is still taking it easy before being given the chance to redeem his reputation following his St Stephen’s Day failure.

Connections believe the grey was suffering from dehydration when fading dramatically out of the picture into a distant sixth behind Kauto Star in the King George VI Chase at Kempton.

They are now looking to dropping him from three miles to two miles, three furlongs for the £150,000 Commercial First Ascot Chase over on February 17.

“He’s coming along grand. We’re just giving him an easy few days and then he’ll be back into the swing of things. He seems very well,” said trainer Nicky Richards.

“We were very disappointed at Kempton. It quite clearly wasn’t the Monet’s Garden everybody knows.

“We think he dehydrated quite a bit. He did that once before when he ran at Cheltenham. Hopefully that won’t happen again.

“He’ll probably go to Ascot. We’ll discuss it with the owner (David Wesley Yates) and see what we think,” the Greystoke handler told Racing UK.