Dual Grade One winner Grey Dawning has been rated as having a 50-50 chance of going to Ireland next month in search of further top level riches according to his trainer Dan Skelton.
The talented eight-year-old made a triumphant return to action when exacting revenge on Royale Pagaille to go one better than 12 months ago in the Betfair Chase at Haydock.
And following that success Skelton has now raised the prospect of sending his progressive grey over to Leopardstown for a tilt at the Savills Chase on December 28. However, Skelton will only let the Robert Kirkland-owned gelding tackle the three mile test provided he is ticking all the right boxes at home.
Skelton said: “I’ve made the entry in the Savills Chase and we will have a look. I’d say I’m 50-50 as to if we go over there at the moment.
“It was massive for the horse at Haydock Park, but what you have got to remember is that he is a top notch horse.
“I know he got beat in it last year, and I know Willie’s horse (Gaelic Warrior) beat him at Aintree in April, but after that first run last season it always felt like our backs were against the wall, and that is why I didn’t take him to the Gold Cup.
“He has cantered this week and he seems to have come out of the race really well. We will see how we get on next week. If we feel like he is fresh and well we might give him a breeze the following week. If he is still really well then we might go.
“If there is any point where we feel something else could be better, or that I’m not happy with that, then he won’t go."
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Should a trip to Ireland not materialise Skelton insists he would take a look at the Grade Two Betfair Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham on January 24 with the son of Flemensfirth instead. However, he admits he would also have no hesitation to send Grey Dawning straight to the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup at the track in March, for which he is a general 14/1 chance.
Skelton added: “After that hard start of the season it was going to be hard to get the whole thing back. This year it is a different feeling and we have started on top of the world.
“He didn’t have as hard a race as he has done in the past and that gives us great confidence going forward so that is why you can go down the Gold Cup route now.
“You can’t go down the Gold Cup route half-baked. You have to be fully ‘we’re in’. Last season we weren’t, as it didn’t start well enough, and you can’t put those pieces back together, but this season we are.
“We might go to Trials Day for the Cotswold Chase if he didn’t go to Ireland, but if it was absolutely bottomless he would have to go straight to the Gold Cup, which I’ve said before isn’t what the public want to hear as they want to see these horses run.
“There isn’t anyone who wants to run them more than me, but at the same time you have got to do things right and if you want to try to win a Gold Cup you have got to do things right."
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