All roads lead back to the Ryanair Chase for Allaho after he finished third in the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.
His Timeform performance rating behind Hewick was 166?, two pounds above his reappearance win at Clonmel but 12lb below his very best figure.
Richard Thompson of owners Cheveley Park Stud hopes a drop in trip at Cheltenham will bring about improvement and he told Tuesday's Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “He wasn’t able to control the race (King George) like he has in the past. He wasn’t able to dictate from the front when Frodon went off and the pace was pretty quick. I think the performance was good and I don’t think we were disappointed.
“He ran a decent race but it showed he didn’t quite stay. He won the Grade Two in November and Willie was pretty confident he was match fit. All roads lead to the Ryanair Chase with him which we all know is his real distance. It’s the distance he's thrived over.
“Third in the King George, even though he was favourite, might have been a tad disappointing, but I wasn’t disappointed. We know it’s a hell of a race to win. We hoped to win, we didn’t win, and we move on to Cheltenham.”
And so do Sir Gerhard and Grangeclare West for the same owners - winners at Punchestown and Leopardstown respectively over the festive period. However both could have a run beforehand.
“They can both run you’d think at the Dublin Racing Festival most probably but certainly they would be heading towards Cheltenham I would have thought, Sir Gerhard to the Stayers’ Hurdle and Grangeclare West the Brown Advisory," Thompson said.
"They would be the Cheltenham targets and if there’s a race to suit at the DRF they’d go there as well but that would be down to Willie in terms of what he thinks is suitable before Cheltenham."
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