Richards mulling Lexus trip

Nicky Richards will weigh up the opposition before committing Money Trix to a run in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown on December 28.

The injury-plagued nine-year-old was having just the 11th outing of his career at Kelso on Sunday, but showed a good attitude to land the Eric Scarth Memorial Champion Chase by a neck.

Richards feels his charge will benefit from a step back up to three miles and is keen to test his mettle against the big guns sooner or later.

“He dug in well from the last and that has never been an issue with him as he’s always had the heart of a lion,” said the Greystoke handler.

“It was a funny sort of race and I thought the boy on Belon Gale (Ryan Mania) rode a very canny race from the front.

“He quickened it up going down the back and our horse made a mistake and probably lost six lengths or so.

“If he’d jumped that better and jumped the next, he probably would have been right on the tail of Belon Gale and won nice and easy.

“He’s got to keep learning a little bit about his job and it might not have done him any harm.

“He’s bucking and kicking this morning so we’ll see what’s left in the Lexus and see how the horse is, then we can weigh things up.

“But our horse hasn’t had a lot of racing and is just creeping up on age a little bit, so we have to go up to that highest level at some stage and try to find out if we belong there or not.

“Hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here.”