The Real Whacker is set for a second tilt at the Cotswold Chase following another creditable effort in defeat in the King George on Boxing Day.
Winner of the Charlie Hall at Wetherby on his reappearance, Patrick Neville’s stable star was supplemented for last week’s Kempton showpiece and ran a solid race to pick up minor honours behind Banbridge, Il Est Francais and L’Homme Presse.
Neville reports the eight-year-old to have returned to his Wensleydale yard none the worse and will now look to send him back to Cheltenham in late January, having filled the runner-up spot behind Capodanno in the Cotswold Chase last season.
“He came out of it well and we were delighted with him, it was a great run,” said the trainer.
“The French horse (Il Est Francais) went quick enough and it was not really a staying race. A lot of horses never got into it and it was more of a two-and-a-half-mile race really than a staying race.
“We’ll go for the Cotswold Chase now and hopefully the Gold Cup again if the ground is on the good side, which hopefully it will be this year.
“He’s well in himself and the horses are in better form this year.”
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