Moore considering Numide aim

Gary Moore is taking it easy with his impressive French recruit Numide.

Fifth in the French Derby for Jean-Claude Rouget, the five-year-old had an effortless introduction to the winter game at Leicester recently but Moore is refusing to get carried away.

“Obviously he won’t run this week but he could run the week after,” said the in-form trainer.

“There are a couple of races for him but I haven’t made any definite decisions yet.

“I spoke to Ryan (Moore, jockey) about the French ground and asked how would it compare when they call it heavy and he said it wouldn’t compare to what we call heavy in the winter.

“The fact he coped with it at Leicester was fair enough for me, but it has rained for three or four days now so it will really be getting in and I don’t want to run him when it is too testing.

“I would like to have seen him a little more fluent over his hurdles but I suppose it was a culture shock to him, he was still pulling at the second last though.

“We won’t be aiming high. He could have gone to Haydock on Saturday but I would rather get his confidence as high as I can before I step him up.

“He has no aim at the moment. He will be entered in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle because it would be silly not to at this stage, but whether he goes there or to Liverpool depends if he’s good enough.”

Numide is a general 16-1 chance for the Cheltenham Festival opener.