Emma Lavelle has mapped out a plan for stable star Ma Shantou to get his season under way in the Coral Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury later this month.
The trainer has earmarked the Grade Two prize on November 27, one she won back in 2019 with Paisley Park, as the most likely starting point for the gelded son of Shantou.
Last season, the seven-year-old raced through the handicap ranks before claiming Grade Two glory in the Pertemps Network Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham, on what was to be his penultimate run.
Although things failed to work out back at the track on his return to top table in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival, Lavelle is keen to plot a path back towards the prestigious Grade One in March.
Lavelle said: “We have decided to go down the staying hurdle route again with Ma Shantou.
“As long as the ground is safe the plan is to start him off in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury.
“The run in the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival was not his true running. It was not within a stone of the performances he put up to get there, so I think we can draw a line through that.
“He is a bundle of energy and he loves what he is doing. By rights he should be coming into his prime, and you hope that he is just getting better.”
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