Noel George is still weighing up a precise Cheltenham Festival goal for Il Est Francais but will be watching this weekend's Dublin Racing Festival for clues as to where to point his high-class chaser.
The King George VI Chase runner-up has pleased connections following his gallant effort in defeat behind Banbridge at Kempton on Boxing Day and hopes are high he can make his presence felt in mid-March no matter the ultimate target.
As well as assessing the Irish Gold Cup and potential fallout from this weekend's three-mile Grade 1 at Leopardstown, George, who trains Il Est Francais alongside Amanda Zetterholm, also says the state of the ground will help determine in which race the horse runs next.
George said: “He’s absolutely flying and it’s the best he has come out of a race in a long time, he’s got a lot of confidence out of that Kempton run and everything was perfect afterwards.
“I think we have just got to watch Dublin at the weekend to work out where we’re going to run and obviously the ground at the Festival will play a part as well, but the horse is in great form.
“We are very much considering the Champion Chase, but we just need to see what is going on with the Ryanair field – and then if it came up good ground on Gold Cup day, you would also have to consider that and what opposition was turning up.
“There’s a lot of factors to be discussed and considered, but the horse is in fine form and that’s the main thing.”
He added: “It’s the dream to have big winners in England as well as France and we’re trying to put French racing on the map. There’s some exciting French-trained horses coming to the Festival, not just with us, but others as well, so it’s an exciting time.”
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