Tom George is planning a Cheltenham Gold Cup assault with Double Shuffle following his fine effort in the 32Red King George Chase.
Adrian Heskin's mount belied his odds of 50-1 to give hot favourite Might Bite a real scare at Kempton on Boxing Day, going down by just half a length to Nicky Henderson's charge.
George reported his stable star in fine shape following those exertions, and feels he is deserving of a crack at the blue-riband prize in March.
He said: "He came out of Kempton really well. He is fresh and has put the weight back on to where he was before the race.
"It was not like he was dropped out at the back and just picked up the pieces, he was in the firing line the whole way. If he had not made the mistake at the second-last, he might have ended up even closer. It was a good performance.
"The time before at Ascot, the two-mile-five was inadequate and Ascot is probably not his place. On the strength of that run, why not go for the Gold Cup? I think he will be better over the extra two furlongs and the ground will be better, as it was plenty dead enough at Kempton.
"There is no reason why we shouldn't give it a go. What is nice is that he can still run in a graduation chase before, if we felt minded to."
Double Shuffe is 33/1 with Sky Bet for chasing's blue riband.
