William Haggas insists that the William Hill Lingfield Derby Trial on Saturday week remains Plan A for Maltese Cross.
The Newmarket handler admitted that he is favouring running the son of Sea The Stars, who is a general 20/1 chance for the Betfred Derby, in the Listed contest as opposed to the Group Three Boodles Chester Vase on Wednesday.
After signing off last season with victory in a maiden at Newmarket, the George Waud-owned colt made a winning return to action when getting up almost on the line in a valuable mile and a quarter novice contest at Newbury last month.
Haggas said: “I think he will go to Lingfield. He wants nice, fast ground.
"There is some rain around next week and Chester tends to get it like Haydock Park so I would think he would go to Lingfield.
“He wants a mile and a half now, and he needs another race as he needs to learn to wake up.”
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.