Dan Skelton is willing to bide his time before deciding whether Warwick winner Grey Dawning heads to the Virgin Bet Scilly Isles Chase next or goes straight to the Cheltenham Festival.

A drop back in trip for the Sandown Grade One had been mentioned as a potential next stepping stone for the versatile Hampton Novices’ Chase victor, but his handler would like to wait a little longer before deciding if that would be the right thing to do by his likeable charge.

The Grade Two scorer could instead head straight to Prestbury Park where the three-mile Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase has been nominated as the likely port of call at the Festival in March.

“I’m going to have a think about Grey Dawning,” said Skelton.

“Immediately after the race I thought we would go to Sandown. Whether that is clever or not, I will give it a week to think about.

“I think we would just go for the three-mile race at Cheltenham if we didn’t (go to Sandown), but that’s not me looking to not run.

“I want to run him because he’s a horse who loves racing, but I would only run him if I was really, really certain it was the right thing to do.”

Stablemate Galia Des Liteaux was also in action at Warwich, where she was stayed on strongly in vain when second in the Classic Chase.

The classy eight-year-old will now be pointed towards the Randox Grand National, with Skelton following the same route he took to Aintree with Le Milos 12 months ago by stopping off at Kelso’s bet365 Premier Chase in March first.

“Galia Des Liteaux will go for the Listed chase up at Kelso on March 2 before going for the Grand National,” continued Skelton.

“We tried it with Le Milos last year and it didn’t quite come off, but it doesn’t mean we won’t try it again.”

The British Horseracing Authority has announced that the Clarence House Chase has been rescheduled for Cheltenham’s Festival Trials Day meeting next weekend.

Just like 12 months ago, Ascot’s card on Saturday was frozen off but the Grade One highlight has been saved.

It was due to feature a heavyweight clash between Jonbon and El Fabiolo, but with the BHA confirming the race will be run for £105,00, a reduction in prize-money of £70,000, it appears El Fabiolo will stay closer to home

Simon Munir, who owns El Fabiolo along with Isaac Souede, told Sportinglife.com: “Unfortunately, with Ascot cancelled due to the weather, the rearranged Clarence House will most probably take place next week on January 27.

“We have decided that El Fabiolo could run at the Dublin Racing Festival on February 4 without the need to travel over to England.”

The Clarence House has been called off three times in the last 11 years due to the weather, with Sprinter Sacre (2013), Un De Sceaux (2017) and Editeur Du Gite (2023) triumphing in rearranged contests at Cheltenham.

Jonbon is likely to be there, with his trainer Nicky Henderson telling ITV Racing before the announcement: “We had discussions yesterday which happened very quickly when Ascot was administered the last rights, one might say, before 4pm.

“We’re very keen to go there. We’re very keen to run, when you have a horse ready for this Saturday, you couldn’t afford not to be near a big peak.

“I was genuinely looking forward to the race on Saturday and it’s sad that it is not going to happen. Whether it might happen next weekend now, I don’t know.

“It looks like there will be a reduction in prize money, but we intend to be there.

“This was going to be a great clash at Ascot. Both teams were well prepped. We were quite bullish, now we’ve got to wait another week when a lot of things could go wrong. One week won’t make a difference but two weeks probably would, as we want to build him back up for March.”

New entries will need to be made for the race before noon on Monday.

Other races that have been saved following the recent spate of abandonments are the Grade Two Mares Warfield Hurdle (from Ascot) and the Grade Two Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle (from Haydock), which will both now be staged at Doncaster next weekend, the Warfield on Sunday and the Rossington Main on Saturday.

The Listed Alan Swinbank Mares Bumper is being rescheduled for the next Market Rasen fixture on Tuesday, February 6.

Tom Byrne, BHA head of racing and betting, said: “When rescheduling, there are often questions regarding the reduced prize-money values the races are subsequently run for.

“Where a race is added to a pre-existing card at a different racecourse, there are usually significant challenges for that new venue, including the limited time to secure sponsorship support, changing ITV coverage and existing prize-money commitments.

“Therefore, a combination of additional Levy Board and BHA prize-money funds are utilised to support the Racecourse Executive contribution and entry fees to run these races at as high a value as possible. This is usually below the original value due to the limited nature of those additional central funds.”

Ben Brookhouse has not lost faith in his star bumper performer Brechin Castle, who is set to warm up for a trip to the Cheltenham Festival with an outing at Newbury next month.

A £165,000 recruit from the Irish point-to-point field, the six-year-old bolted up on his debut under rules at Sedgefield before successfully transitioning to Listed class at Cheltenham in November.

He met with defeat for the first time when filling the runner-up spot in another Listed event at Ascot before Christmas, but was far from disgraced in finishing second to Dan Skelton’s exciting mare Let It Rain, to whom he was conceding 11lb.

“I think it was one of his best runs, to be fair,” Brookhouse said of his Ascot performance.

“We were giving 11lb to the winner and when she won it wasn’t a massive surprise to me because I did think she was the one to be worried about, because of the weight we were giving her.

“We gave 4lb to everything else and gave them a good beating, it was just giving 11lb to the Skelton horse that proved too much for us.”

Next on Brechin Castle’s is the Betfair Bumper, the finale on Newbury’s Betfair Hurdle card on February 10, and Brookhouse would relish a rematch with Let It Rain should it happen.

He added: “He had a small break over Christmas and New Year out in the paddock with his rugs on and the plan would be to go to Newbury in February in preparation for Cheltenham.

“He seems in great order for his break. He put on weight and didn’t lose any muscle or anything. He just did exactly what we wanted him to, which was refill the petrol tank.

“If we bump into the Skelton horse at Newbury she is not a four-year-old anymore, so she won’t get the four-year-old allowance, and she’ll have a 4lb penalty for winning a Listed race, so all of a sudden that 11lb we gave her is nigh on non-existent.”

Brechin Castle is a 33-1 shot for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in March, and while he will undoubtedly have to contend with a formidable Irish contingent come the Festival, a return to winning ways at Newbury may well make him Britain’s leading candidate for the Grade One contest.

Brookhouse said: “He’s got course form at Cheltenham, he’s had plenty of racing and plenty of experience. You could argue he’s exposed, but all he can do is beat what’s put in front of him and the only chink in his armour was he was beaten trying to give 11lb to a nice filly.

“Weight stops train, let alone horses, so we can’t blame him for that. He was giving 4lb to several other horses who at the time were considered the best young bumper horses in the country and I don’t want to sound confident or cocky, but he was pulling away from the third at the finish and he wiped the floor with them.”

Patrick Mullins has hailed Gaelic Warrior’s versatility – but as a result admits it means his Cheltenham Festival target is likely to be a late decision.

Having won from two to three miles over hurdles, he has shown both speed and stamina and his win in Grade One company at Limerick over Christmas marked him out as one of the best novice chasers at Willie Mullins’ Closutton yard.

However, he has shown a marked tendency to jump to his right and his only two defeats since joining Mullins have come at the left-handed Cheltenham.

He has been entered in the two-mile Arkle, the two-and-a-half-mile Turners Novices’ Chase and the three-mile Brown Advisory at the Festival.

“I think he’s very versatile. He won a very valuable two-mile handicap hurdle and then a Grade One over three miles as well,” Patrick Mullins, who rode him at Limerick, told Sky Sports Racing.

“The way he jumps, he could definitely go back to two miles but he does jump to his right. I think if you see any of the head on shots at Limerick, he does jump to his right.

“So, does going a stride slower on the new course over two and a half (in the Turners) help negate that? It might but if you just asked me what his best distance is, I don’t know. He jumps fast enough for two miles but he stays three miles. He’s just versatile.

“With regards to Cheltenham I don’t know, Willie has him entered in the Irish Arkle so that could be interesting if he goes there, we could get a feel on that but plans are up in the air at the moment.

“Willie always likes to leave it as late as he can so there are no more moving parts and it works well for him. For some horses a race sticks out and you can say that’s the race for him, but with others that’s not the case.

“This fellow is so versatile, he has lots of options so we won’t nail our colours to the mast too soon.”

Ashroe Diamond is likely to tee up a Cheltenham Festival bid at Doncaster on January 27.

Willie Mullins’ top-class mare has the Grade Two Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle as an aim as she finds herself ineligible from most races restricted to her sex in Ireland due to winning a Grade One last term.

She made a perfectly satisfactory comeback this season when third in the Hatton’s Grace against the boys at Fairyhouse.

“We were delighted with her first run back, she was one of the last to come in because of the cut she got in the Honeysuckle (Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, at Fairyhouse in April),” said James Fenton who manages the Blue Blood Racing Club who own the mare.

“It was a bad enough cut, she needed staples in it and it was a bit of a mess and needed plenty of work.

“We are very limited in Ireland when it comes to Grade One-winning mares as they are omitted from a lot of the graded races.

“We’d have liked to have run her in the BeattheBank at Leopardstown over Christmas that Shewearsitwell won last season, but as a Grade One winner she couldn’t go in it.

“So we’re probably looking across the water and she’s going to be entered in Doncaster on the 27th (Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle) and the plan is to run at Cheltenham in the Mares’ Hurdle.

“She’s doing everything right at home and she’s a proper mare this year, we’re looking forward to getting her out.”

He went on: “She’s been kept in training because we think there’s more to come. I felt she was a little bit hard done by last year. She hasn’t made Cheltenham yet and when we discussed it I said there’s still a bit more there.

“We just felt she deserves one more year over hurdles, she is a Grade One winner already, there isn’t much to prove going over fences but I do think she’s good enough to win the Mares’ Hurdle and if she’s in the first three, we’ll be delighted.

“Myself, Willie, Patrick (Mullins) and David Casey will all have our views of the best route and when you have that kind of a team saying what you should be doing and where you should be going, you probably should be listening.”

French star Theleme will revert to the Flat next month in preparation for a tilt at the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

The seven-year-old has struck Grade One gold five times in his homeland, including victory in last year’s French Champion Hurdle and successive wins in the Grand Prix d’Automne at Auteuil.

He has enjoyed a winter break since his most recent triumph in the latter contest in November – and with alternative opportunities thin on the ground, the Arnaud Chaille-Chaille-trained gelding is set to switch codes for for his final outing before an intended trip to the Cotswolds in March.

Bertand Le Metayer, racing manager for Leeds-based owners the Gordon family, said: “Cheltenham is very much the plan. It’s probably not ideal as we’ve only got one Flat race that suits him for a prep run and that is on February 23.

“It’s not really ideal, but we can’t really prep him otherwise. I know it’s not the most usual programme, but the French system is not made at all for running on both sides of the Channel.

“The horse has just won a Grade One, we gave him a break after that and he looks fabulous for it.”

Le Metayer hopes a spin on the level next month will give Theleme a taste of the pace he is likely to encounter at Cheltenham, with hurdle races at Auteuil traditionally far more tactically-run affairs.

He added: “The Flat race he is going for is at Tarbes, which is a nice, big oval with a long straight and it will be the first (meeting) of the year, so we expect it to be nice, soft ground.

“Hopefully the race will just give him some rhythm. We have a short amount of time to get him ready and we don’t want to squeeze the lemon too much.

“He’s only been back in training three weeks and we’ve got five weeks until the Flat race, so we’ll give him a nice blow there, jump him over some English hurdles and then take him to Cheltenham.”

Theleme will be bidding to become the first French-trained winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle since the mighty Baracouda claimed back-to-back victories in 2002 and 2003, although Le Metayer feels it is difficult to compare the two with Baracouda having excelled on British soil, as evidenced by four wins in the Long Walk Hurdle, two Ascot Hurdles and two Long Distance Hurdles.

“I actually spoke at length with Francois Doumen, but his ways of doing it were different because Baracouda was not as good a horse in France and he was trained for Cheltenham to the millimetre as that was his objective,” he said.

“The reason we are going to the Stayers’ Hurdle is because we don’t like the prep races (for the French Champion Hurdle) in France as they make you carry top-weight. We have to run in prep races with 72 kilos, which is not something we like doing, so we thought the best way would be to take him to Cheltenham off level weights and also give the Gordon family a taste of Cheltenham.

“The horse has a brilliant mind and he’s obviously a super horse, there’s no doubt about it. It’s just more complicated to prep him for Cheltenham this year than it would be next year because firstly it is unknown and secondly, by next year he will have had a third run on the Flat, so he will have a handicap mark which opens up other options.”

Theleme is a 4-1 joint-favourite for Cheltenham with sponsors Paddy Power alongside the Gordon Elliott-trained Teahupoo, with the latter’s stablemate Irish Point only a point bigger at 5-1.

National Hunt superstar Constitution Hill heads 22 entries for the Unibet Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Nicky Henderson’s unbeaten charge was a nine-length winner of the hurdles highlight at Prestbury Park last year, one of his eight victories under rules to date.

Constitution Hill is already long odds-on for a repeat on March 12, having made a faultless return in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day.

The Willie Mullins-trained State Man chased him home last year and he is among seven contenders for the trainer this time around.

Lossiemouth, winner of the Triumph Hurdle last term, features in the Closutton squad along with 2023 Champion Hurdle fourth Vauban, Echoes In Rain, Gala Marceau, Impaire Et Passe and Zarak The Brave.

Zanahiyr was third behind Constitution Hill 12 months ago and he has been entered by Gordon Elliott, with stablemates Irish Point and Pied Piper also on the list.

Henderson has alternates in First Street, Under Control and Luccia, while four-year-old Burdett Road is an intriguing entry for James Owen.

Harry Fry’s Love Envoi, the Henry de Bromhead-trained Bob Olinger and popular veteran Not So Sleepy are others of note.

The Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle takes place on the same day as the Champion Hurdle and Lossiemouth, Echoes In Rain, Gala Marceau, Love Envoi and Luccia are all entered for that Grade One.

Ashroe Diamond, Magical Zoe and Jetara are others towards the head of the betting, with Jamie Snowden’s You Wear It Well looking for a second Festival win after taking the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle last term.

A total of 25 have been entered for that race – a number which is surpassed by the 36 initial contenders for the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle.

Run on March 14, the three-mile contest has a clutch of previous winners in the potential line-up, with Elliott’s 2023 hero Sire Du Berlais, Gavin Cromwell’s dual victor Flooring Porter and 2019 winner Paisley Park all potentially coming back for more.

Teahupoo and Irish Point are other key contenders for Elliott, with potential French raider Theleme prominent in the betting having won an Auteuil Grade One in November.

Crambo and Sir Gerhard are in the mix, with the Lucinda Russell-trained Ahoy Senor an interesting possible after a couple of disappointing chase starts this term.

Jade De Grugy could put her Cheltenham Festival aspirations to the test at Fairyhouse later this month following an impressive debut for Willie Mullins at Leopardstown.

The five-year-old was snapped up for €230,000 after winning at Saint-Brieuc in late 2022, and after a 452-day absence finally made her first start for her Closutton training team and new owner Kenny Alexander over the festive period.

Sent off the 5-4 favourite in the hands of Paul Townend for a two-and-a-half-mile maiden hurdle, Jade De Grugy delivered a blistering display, making light work of her rivals to romp home by 15 lengths.

She is now poised for a step up in class for her next start, with Fairyhouse’s SBK Solerina Mares Novice Hurdle on January 27 seen as one possible spot where Jade De Grugy can tune-up for a shot at the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle in the spring.

“She was very impressive,” said Alexander’s racing manager Peter Molony.

“We are not sure what she beat, but what she did was very good and Paul was very impressed with her – we are quite excited about her.

“Every option will be open, but something like the Solerina at the end of the month might be something for her.

“If she progresses in the right direction you would be dreaming of the Mares’ Novices’ at Cheltenham. It’s what we’re thinking of at the moment and hoping for.”

Mullins also unleashed another exciting prospect in the colours of Alexander during Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival with French import Kargese finishing second in the Grade Two Mercedes-Benz South Dublin Juvenile Hurdle.

It was the same position Gala Marceau filled in the race on stable bow 12 months ago and Kargese will seek to repeat Gala Marceau’s Grade One winning exploits in her next start at the Dublin Racing Festival.

Molony added: “We were happy with her, she just didn’t settle great on the day. Considering that, she ran very well and the winner had had two runs already so again we’re quite excited about her.

“Hopefully all going well she goes to the Dublin Racing Festival and if things progress well, we will dream of a go at the Triumph Hurdle.”

Dual Grade One scorer Gala Marceau could make her belated return at Doncaster later this month, as connections have their sights set on the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

The five-year-old was a star performer for trainer Willie Mullins and owner Kenny Alexander last season, finishing no worse than third in five starts and tasting big-race success at both the Dublin Racing Festival and at Auteuil in the Prix Alain du Breil.

She was also a fine second to stablemate and regular foe Lossiemouth in the Triumph Hurdle before finishing a place further back in third behind that rival at the Punchestown Festival.

Having finished off her season excelling when upped to two and a half miles in France, connections believe the Mares’ Hurdle over a similar distance is the ideal target for the Cheltenham Festival in March.

And Gala Marceau could use a well-trodden path to Prestbury Park by running in Doncaster’s Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle on January 27, a race Mullins has won with both Annie Power (2014) and Vroum Vroum Mag (2017) previously.

“We will possibly see her out towards the end of the month and there is a nice race at Doncaster that is being discussed,” said Peter Molony, racing manager to owner Alexander. “It’s a nice mares’ race, a Grade Two I think it is.

“The main aim would be the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham – that’s what we are thinking.

“The extra half a mile she will get at Cheltenham seemed to really play to her strengths at Auteuil and she was very impressive that day. We were all blown away to be honest.”

Alexander’s colours have of course been carried to Mares’ Hurdle success twice in the past by the great four-time Festival winner Honeysuckle.

Gala Marceau may struggle to match Honeysuckle’s exceptional career CV, but Molony feels she has more than done enough to advertise her quality during her first season with Mullins and has shown signs over the summer there could be plenty more to come.

He continued: “I’m not sure she will ever fill those boots, but she has done us proud so far and won us two Grade Ones.

“She’s not the biggest in the world, but she is as tough as nails and she has definitely grown with us over the summer and strengthened a bit by the time she went back to Willie’s. So we are very hopeful she can progress again.”

Flooring Porter could head straight to the Cheltenham Festival after coming up short in Grade One company over the Christmas period – but whether he will stick to fences or bid to secure a third Stayers’ Hurdle title remains uncertain.

The nine-year-old dominated from the front when claiming the Stayers’ Hurdle crown in both 2021 and 2022 and finished an honourable fourth when looking to make it a hat-trick last season.

This season Gavin Cromwell’s stable star has had his attentions switched to the larger obstacles and made an impressive start to his new career at Cheltenham in October.

However, he was well held in third in the Grade Two Florida Pearl Novice Chase at Punchestown on his next start, and while connections were hopeful a return to a left-handed track would see him in a better light in last week’s Neville Hotels Novice Chase at Leopardstown, he again had to make do with minor honours behind the impressive Grangeclare West.

Cromwell said: “He jumped really well, no excuses. The winner was very good on the day and we were beaten fair and square.

“He jumped well and he’s probably going to struggle at that level over fences.”

The County Meath handler is not ruling out the possibility of Flooring Porter contesting one of the novice chases at the Festival, but confirmed a return to the smaller obstacles is under consideration.

“It’s hard to know where we go. I will put him in the Stayers’ Hurdle,” he added.

“We could potentially go straight to Cheltenham with him, as we did when he won the two Stayers’ Hurdles after Christmas.

“I’m not saying he will go for the Stayers’ Hurdle. We could go straight to Cheltenham, but what race we go for is very much up in the air.”

Another Cromwell inmate who was placed at Grade One level at Leopardstown over the festive period was My Mate Mozzie, who filled the runner-up spot behind Found A Fifty in the Racing Post Novice Chase.

The trainer was delighted with his eight-year-old’s performance, but with hot favourite Facile Vega a huge disappointment, he does question the strength of the form.

Cromwell said: “He finished off really well, but I suppose he was ridden to do that and he may have been a bit flattered by the fact the favourite had cried enough and Sharjah hasn’t just been in form of late either, but it was nice to be second in a Grade One.

“I’m not sure where we’ll go now, I suppose the Grand Annual is a possibility at the Festival.”

Fergal O’Brien’s Crambo could head straight to the Cheltenham Festival after doing his connections proud in the Long Walk over the festive period.

The seven-year-old claimed Grade One glory at Ascot on December 23 after coming out on top in a titanic tussle with staying stalwart Paisley Park.

The extended three-mile contest was rightly hailed as one of best of the races season so far and victory was particularly meaningful to former jockey Noel Fehily, who bred the winner and is the racing manager to owner Chris Giles.

Fehily also did the early work with Crambo and takes him for pre-training ahead of each season, meaning his involvement with the promising stayer runs even deeper still.

The Saddler Maker gelding is currently a 10-1 chance for the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival in March and may not run again beforehand.

“Crambo is doing well, I’m presuming he’ll go straight to Cheltenham, but I’ve yet to talk to Fergal about it,” Fehily said.

“It was great to see him do that, that was a mighty race between him and Paisley Park – we were very happy with him.

“I bred him and I had the mare, so it’s lovely to see one you’ve known from day one go and win at that level.

“We broke him, pre-trained him, we pre-train him every year before he goes back to Fergal’s.

“He’s an absolute joy to deal with, he’s a dude of a horse. He goes out, does his thing, he’s so straightforward.”

Connections of Marie’s Rock appear to have abandoned ambitions of conquering the staying hurdling division in favour of another crack at the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Her previous attempts at three miles have proved fruitless, but the team behind Nicky Henderson’s nine-year-old have always felt they needed further evidence over a staying distance before completely giving up on the Stayers’ Hurdle dream.

A run in the Cleeve Hurdle later in the month was mooted as the potential acid test of her staying credentials, but following a seven-length defeat by a resurgent Bob Olinger when trying to defend her Relkeel Hurdle crown, attentions will be turned to another run over two and a half miles at the Festival in March and an attempt to win the mares’ only Grade One for a second time.

“I think she ran a Marie’s Rock race. They went a good enough gallop. James (Bowen) was very happy with how she settled and she jumped very well,” said Middleham Park’s National Hunt racing manager Tom Palin.

“I think we were just beaten by a resurgent Bob Olinger and you can do nothing but tip your cap and go ‘well played’.

“We were discussing about going three miles again, but I would say at this point we are going to go for the Mares’ Hurdle. That would be the hot take, if you were.

“I think this tells us we should be looking back to what we know and to go and try to win the Mares’ Hurdle again. Hopefully, we get a truer-run race in it this year.”

Although surrendering her Relkeel crown to Henry de Bromhead’s on-song raider, the Middleham Park Racing team were pleased with Marie’s Rock’s efforts at Prestbury Park and will now return their star mare to her own sex for her Festival tune-up, which is likely to be Warwick’s Listed Hurdle on February 10.

“That performance she put in was the real Marie’s Rock and I think that performance is good enough to be competitive in a Mares’ Hurdle at the Festival,” continued Palin.

“I don’t think we will go to Ascot (for the Warfield) or the Cleeve Hurdle.

“I think we will go to Warwick for the Listed race she won before the Mares’ Hurdle at the Festival. That is in mid-February. That is about six weeks away now, then it is a month to the Festival and that appears the route we will go.”

Noel George has reaffirmed the intention to skip this season’s Cheltenham Festival with the very exciting Il Est Francais.

George trains in partnership with Amanda Zetterholm in France and their stable star waltzed away with the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.

Highly regarded types like Hermes Allen and Giovinco were left trailing in his wake as he made every yard of the running under James Reveley, but connections are to stick to their plan of aiming at the French Gold Cup, the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, this spring rather than Cheltenham.

“He doesn’t have to front run, he’s very easy, he can sit in behind and pass horses but that’s just the speed he’s comfortable at going and the others aren’t comfortable. He’s just a dream horse and I think the sky is the limit with him,” George told Sky Sports Racing.

“He’s potentially the best chaser in the whole of France. He hasn’t stepped up in grade yet but we knew that he was very good.

“We thought about coming to Kempton a year ago and the horse had never even run over fences, but I think it was the right decision to wait and he’s shown everyone how good he is.

“It’s great for everyone involved to show that the top level in France is able to compete with the best level in England.

“The horse came back into training in July, ran in September and was near enough 100 per cent for the whole autumn. If we kept him in training to aim at Cheltenham and then get him back at 100 per cent for the French Gold Cup in May, that’s nearly a whole year having him in full training which I don’t think is the right thing to do.”

He went on: “We still need to discuss it but for me, I’d like to give him a break to make sure he is 100 per cent for a French Gold Cup.

“We’ve got loads of time with this horse, he’s only just turning six and for me, his next real target in England is the King George so there’s no rush, the sky is the limit.

“(Co-owners) Richard Kelvin-Hughes’ dream is to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup and Nicolas Lageneste’s dream is to win a French Gold Cup – if we can achieve both everyone would be very happy.”

Henrietta Knight will always be remembered for the Cheltenham Festival exploits of Best Mate. But there was also Edredon Bleu – a horse who always held a special place in his trainer’s heart and who 20 years ago defied his advancing years for King George VI glory.

A dual Cheltenham Festival winner having supplemented his Grand Annual victory of 1998 with a thrilling Champion Chase win in 2000, the gallant bay returned victorious to the winner’s enclosure 25 times during a staggering 57-race career and won the Peterborough Chase in four successive seasons between 1998 and 2001.

However, his finest hour arguably came aged 11 when he corrected the record of his previous King George disappointment to land a 25-1 shock and add big-race success over three miles to his extensive roll of honour.

“It was a bit of a surprise, but a nice surprise,” said Knight of Edredon Bleu’s one-and-a-quarter-length triumph over Martin Pipe’s Tiutchev.

“When Edredon Bleu ran in it the first time he didn’t quite stay, but the tactics were a bit different the second time.

“He led a lot of the way and he was just a gutsy little horse and if he got in front he didn’t like being headed.”

Since Southern Hero won the race as a 12-year-old in 1937 there has been only three 11-year-olds to claim the Boxing Day showpiece, with Edredon Bleu among top-class company in the record books alongside King George legends Desert Orchid and Kauto Star.

It was just the second time he had raced over three miles, with many easily ruling the gelding out on account of a lack of stamina.

But the Edredon Bleu team always kept the faith and his handler knew just how brilliant her Champion Chase hero could be on his day.

Knight said: “Terry (Biddlecombe) always said he would stay – even though he won a Champion Chase, Terry always said ‘this horse will stay further’. He was a remarkable horse.

“He was a fantastic horse and in my heart he is held every bit as much as Best Mate, I adored the horse.”

It was, of course, not Knight’s first King George triumph with Best Mate dazzling the Christmas crowds in Sunbury 12 months previous.

But with her defending champion and Gold Cup hero heading to Leopardstown for the Lexus Chase (now Savills Chase) over the Christmas period, the door was opened for Edredon Bleu to prove he was a more than able substitute and secure leg one of what would be a fabulous big-race festive double.

“It was a fantastic weekend as he won the King George and Best Mate went over to Ireland and won the Lexus,” continued Knight.

“I wasn’t even there the day Best Mate won it as we had Edredon Bleu down at Wincanton and he won there so we had two winners which was nice.

“We thought the Lexus was a better race for Best Mate, the King George wasn’t an ideal race, it is always a very quick three miles and the Lexus was very tempting.

“We didn’t want to do the King George a third time, he had won it on his second go and should have won it the year before as well, (AP) McCoy said he should have won but didn’t think he would stay – Terry always told him he would stay.”

Edredon Bleu’s Christmas triumph meant that he even eclipsed his esteemed stablemate the following year when asked to become the King George poster boy.

Knight added: “He was brilliant. We took him up to Hyde Park Corner as they wanted to use him to advertise the race the year after he won it and he was just stood there with all the traffic going round as quiet as a lamb.

“He was just stood there near the great big statue they have there and we paraded him up there and took lots of photographs to promote the race.”

Fergal O’Brien’s Dysart Enos is likely to be seen once more before taking aim at a Cheltenham return for the Festival in March.

Last season the mare made her mark when winning three bumpers in good style, including a defeat of the useful Queens Gamble at Market Rasen and then a wide-margin success in a Grade Two event at the Grand National meeting.

Her hurdling career has been equally successful so far, with the five-year-old taking her debut over obstacles by seven and a half lengths at Huntingdon in November.

She then lined up at Cheltenham on Friday in what has historically been a good race, previously won by the likes of Datsalrightgino, Chantry House and Elixir De Nutz.

Under Paddy Brennan she was the 5-6 favourite and cantered home a comfortable victor, with the runner-up beaten two and three-quarter lengths and the third over 13 lengths away.

A return to Cheltenham for the showpiece meeting is the ultimate aim, with O’Brien hoping to find another suitable outing for the mare before then.

“She’s very well and we’re really pleased with her. She did it well at Cheltenham, I’m not much into timing but people say she did it very fast,” he said.

“You need a fast one and her last furlongs were fairly fast, so fingers crossed that bodes well.

“You couldn’t fault her, she did everything we wanted her to do and took the whole thing in really well.

“Cheltenham is different to anywhere else, I know it’s not March and there’ll be twice as many people there, or three times as many, but it’s still great to get her there.

“When, hopefully, she goes back there in March, she’ll be in familiar surroundings having been there before.

“There was plenty of depth in there, it was a nice race to go for and it ticked a lot of boxes for us.”

O’Brien will now scour the calendar for the mare’s next outing, with early February considered the ideal time for her final run before the highlight of the National Hunt season.

“The obvious one is Doncaster in January, but Paddy (Brennan) feels that might be too soon, we’d probably be happier with the first week in February,” he said.

“It’s just trying to find somewhere where she hasn’t got a load of weight, we’ll give it a go and try to find something.”

Whilst Dysart Enos made a success of the meeting, the O’Brien team did suffer some disappointment when Bonttay unseated Brennan in the Virgin Bet Every Saturday Money Back Mares’ Handicap Hurdle.

The mare has been incredibly consistent for connections having never finished out of the top two coming into the race, and on the turn for home she looked poised to add to her record as she approached the penultimate hurdle on the bridle.

A third Cheltenham success was not to be, however, as the six-year-old misjudged the obstacle and pecked heavily on landing before parting ways with her rider.

Thankfully both horse and rider were unharmed and O’Brien hopes to find another day for the mare to shine.

“It was a long way out so it’s a bit difficult to know whether she’d have won or not, but she’s come out of it fine,” he said.

“She had a little scratch on her hind leg but other than that she’s OK, she’ll be fine for another day.”