A late January trip to Cheltenham for the Betfair Cotswold Chase could be on the agenda for Savills Chase third Gentlemansgame.
Making his first appearance since finishing fourth in the Punchestown Gold Cup in the spring, the Mouse Morris-trained eight-year-old Gentlemansgame made an excellent start to his campaign by picking up the bronze medal behind Galopin Des Champs and his stablemate Fact To File in Saturday’s Grade One feature at Leopardstown.
With Galopin Des Champs and potentially Fact To File in line for a return to Leopardstown for the Irish Gold Cup in early February, Morris could seek an alternative target for his stable star, bringing the Betfair Cotswold Chase on Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham the previous weekend into play.
“He was in good form going to Leopardstown, I was hoping for a big run and he gave it,” said Morris.
“He had two Gold Cup winners in front of him and hopefully he’ll come on a good bit for that run.
“If he’s sound I’ll be looking at the race in Cheltenham at the end of January. My options are very few and the races are kind of mapped out for him.”
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Gentlemansgame was pulled up behind Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March and while Morris is not ruling out a second crack at the blue riband, a tilt at the Grand National at Aintree – a race the trainer won with Rule The World in 2016 – is also under consideration.
He added: “It could be either that (Gold Cup) or the National, something like that.
“I don’t know if he has enough experience for the National as that was only his seventh run over fences the other day, but we’ll see because he’s a day-by-day horse anyway.
“Every day is a big day for him, so we’ll see how we go.”
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