O'Neill out to scale Mountain

Jonjo O’Neill is planning to use tomorrow’s Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham as a fact-finding mission with regard to his Triumph Hurdle flop Mountain.

The Gay Smith-owned four-year-old finished eighth in the 2006 Derby for Aidan O’Brien and looked a smart recruit over timber with his debut win at Sandown in February.

However, he was pulled up on his only other start in the Triumph and O’Neill hopes to find out exactly what he has on his hands on the Grade Three Hurdle.

O’Neill said: “He is in grand form and has been in good order at home.

“I am very happy with him and we decided to run as he is rated 132 so there is nowhere to go.

“We had the option of running him over a longer trip but every handicap is competitive so we decided to run and find out more about him, see if he needs to go up or down in class.”