Broadway Boy could sidestep the Welsh Grand National in favour of a tilt at the Cotswold Chase after filling the runner-up spot in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday.
The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained six-year-old was sent off clear favourite for the prestigious handicap after finishing third on his seasonal reappearance at Cheltenham in October and was given a positive ride from the front by the trainer’s son, Sam.
A mistake four fences from the finish proved significant and he ultimately had to make do with the silver medal behind Paul Nicholls’ Kandoo Kid, but the team were proud of his performance nonetheless.
“He ran a great race. It’s horrible to say you come away from a Coral Gold Cup being disappointed with finishing second, but I just felt if we’d jumped four out, we might have won – and if we’d had softer ground, we might have won,” said Willy Twiston-Davies, assistant to his father.
Broadway Boy is a 10/1 joint-favourite with the sponsors for the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow on December 27, but Twiston-Davies is also considering a return to Cheltenham a month later, a track where the gelding has already won on three occasions.
He added: “He’s obviously entered in the Welsh National, I think he’s one of the favourites for that, but that might come too soon for him and we’re probably more looking at the Cotswold Chase in January.
“He loves Cheltenham, hopefully it’ll be softer ground by then and over the years the Cotswold Chase has been a winnable race. It’s not usually quite up to Gold Cup standard, so we could go there and work our way back from the Grand National after that.”
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