Newmill sticks to hurdles

Last season’s Queen Mother Champion Chase hero Newmill is likely to be seen in action in the bewleyshotels.com December Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas.

Trainer John Murphy is presently favouring a tilt at that Grade One event, run on December 29, rather than the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase two days earlier on account of the likely soft going.

Newmill trailed home last of four behind Iktitaf on his seasonal reappearance last time, having failed to act in the conditions.

“It looks like he’ll run in the (December Festival) Hurdle but he wouldn’t run if the ground was heavy or anything near it,” Murphy said.

“Everything’s gone well and he’s in great shape but he just hates that ground and as it looks like it’s definitely going to be soft, I think it’ll be the Hurdle.

“There’s no chance of it being good ground now and obviously he’s a nice ground horse. He won’t run on heavy again.”

With regard to the rest of the campaign, Murphy stressed that all plans hinge on underfoot conditions.

He also underlined that he is relatively flexible and would be content to return to Cheltenham for another crack at the Queen Mother without a prep run.

“The whole thing is down to the weather really,” he said.

“He goes on soft no problem but if it’s anything worse than soft then he’ll stay hurdling for the time being.

“The Queen Mother is the aim in March and if I was short of a run in February I might bring him over to England.

“I think we did find something in the plan that would suit us in the first couple of weeks of February but it wouldn’t bother me if he went straight to Cheltenham.”

Newmill is currently as low as 3-1 favourite with totesport to land the two-mile showpiece for the second year running next March.