Richards undecided on plans for Monet's Garden

Nicky Richards is still undecided whether the Cheltenham Festival target for Monet's Garden will be the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase or the Ryanair Chase.

The flashy grey put a dismal performance in the Stan James King George VI Chase well behind him with an exhilarating return to form in the Ascot Chase on his last start.

But as that race was over two miles and three furlongs, Richards is debating whether to take on the speedsters in the two-mile Queen Mother or go for the two-mile-five Ryanair.

"We're not leaning anyway as yet. Myself and David (Wesley Yates, owner) are travelling up to Ayr tomorrow and we'll have a little chat in the car and we'll see what we think," said the Greystoke handler.

The Ryanair field has been boosted with the likely diversion from the Gold Cup of Henrietta Knight's Racing Demon, while the participation of Alan King's My Way De Solzen is still up in the air.

Richards went on: "We won't make a decision based on what other people do, it will be purely what is best for Monet's.

"The ground will obviously come into it. I heard at one of those preview evenings that Newmill might run in the Champion Hurdle if it was very soft.

"And I keep reading that Well Chief is a certainty - well, he's a long way from that, especially if Monet's Garden was to run in it.

"If Newmill didn't run and Ashley Brook ran in another race, there might not be much pace in the race.

"There is one thing, if we ran in the Queen Mother it would be a real good, proper, even gallop."

Richards is keen to stress he has never been put under any pressure from the owner to run him in any particular race.

"The horse is very lucky, he has an owner who just wants to do the best thing, he is not forcing anybody in any direction and hopefully we have got this horse for another two or three lovely seasons and it is not just about next week," he explained.

"Looking at the weather forecast I just thought by the time the Ryanair comes around it might be beautiful jumping ground, it will be on the new track as well."

Richards did admit to a sense of relief after the Ascot Chase and to get his first win at the top level on the board means comparison's with the great One Man, trained by his father, are no longer too wide of the mark.

One Man reverted to two miles as a 10-year-old and finally wrote his name into Cheltenham folklore in 1998 with a stunning performance in the Queen Mother.

Richards said: "It was nice to get Ascot out of the way and for him to prove that he was a real top notcher. I think everybody knew he was, but he just had to go and prove it.

"He's got a Grade One win now as well as three Grade Twos and he's very similar to One Man in many ways.

"A lot of people crabbed the Queen Mother One Man won, but it was a very quick time and the clock doesn't lie."