Sandown option for Choice
The five-year-old ran the race of his life to finish sixth in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and his owner-trainer Michael Banks sees Sandown’s bet365.com Hurdle as the ideal next target.
“He definitely won’t be going to Aintree and we’re looking at the good hurdle race at Sandown on the last day of the season,” said Banks.
“The Aintree race is going to be seriously hot and I have my doubts about going two and a half miles with him anyway, so Sandown is the obvious place to go.
“Depending on how he gets on there and how he comes out of the race, he could then go to Punchestown, but we’ll just have to see.
“The Sandown race would look a good opportunity for him and I thought he ran very well in the Champion.
“He’s only a five-year-old and was probably the least experienced horse in the race.
“The quicker the ground the better for him and he would probably have been better at Cheltenham if the ground had been that bit faster, as he just wasn’t able to quicken in the last couple of furlongs.
“The way he’s handicapped now, opportunities are going to be limited. I’d say next season there will only be five or six races he’ll run in.”
