Soft ground a must for Solzen

My Way De Solzen is likely to try and claim his second big prize over hurdles if the ground is soft enough for him to tackle the Byrne Bros Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday week.

Alan King’s six-year-old ran some promising races as a novice last term and captured the rescheduled totesport Long Walk Hurdle at Chepstow over the Christmas period with a five-length success from Neptune Collonges.

King said: “The plan is to go for the Cleeve. He did his first bit of work back on Saturday morning and he’s in good form.

“He’ll work again this week.”

My Way De Solzen relished the testing ground at Chepstow and King hopes conditions will suit his charge as he continues to be primed for a possible crack at the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

“The softer the better from his point of view but hopefully it will at least be soft enough to let him run,” added the Barbury Castle handler.

“It all depends on the ground really.

“I’d be hopeful going into the Festival – especially as one or two of the big guns have dropped away – but the ground is key to him.

“I’d imagine he’ll go chasing next season but we’ll just see how he gets on in his next couple of runs before making any firm decisions.”

Crystal D’Ainay landed the Cleeve in 2004 for King and finished fourth in the totesport Classic Chase at Warwick on Saturday.

He is also likely to be aimed at the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, a race in which he was third two years ago.

King said: “Crystal D’Ainay is fine. He’ll probably revert to hurdles now for a couple of runs.

“He might run in the Rendlesham Hurdle – run at Haydock this year – with a view that, if he ran well there, he’d go for the Ladbrokes World Hurdle.”

Last year marked the first running of the Cleeve Hurdle as a three-mile contest, having previously been run over two and a half miles.

The race went to the Sue Smith-trained Patriarch Express, who held on by a head from Martin Pipe’s Korelo.

However, Smith revealed her nine-year-old is not a definite starter in this year’s renewal.

She said: “I’m not 100% sure yet whether he’ll go for the Cleeve.

“It could be a possibility that he gets an entry but he hasn’t run for a long time, so it’s probably quite a high target first time back.

“I don’t know yet, but he’s very well.”

The nine-year-old has not raced since injuring himself in the Rendlesham Hurdle at Kempton in February but is being aimed at the Festival nonetheless.

Smith added: “He struck into himself at Kempton last year and it has taken us a lot longer than anticipated.

“Because he’s obviously a very nice horse, we’ve opted to give him the amount of time he needed.

“The target would be the Ladbrokes World Hurdle and he’s in good nick with himself.”