Pipe mulls Cheltenham prep for Adagio

Ashley Iveson
January 31, 2021 4:15 pm

Triumph hope may run once more or head straight to Festival.

David Pipe is undecided as to whether to give his exciting juvenile Adagio another run before the Cheltenham Festival.

The German-bred youngster has won three of his four starts over hurdles since arriving from Britain – following up victory at Cheltenham last month with a Grade One success in the Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow.

He had the option of return to the Cotswolds for Saturday’s JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial – but with conditions deemed too testing on a card which was eventually abandoned for waterlogging anyway, Pipe will consider alternative options before the Triumph Hurdle itself in March.

“It’s possible he’ll have one more run before the Festival. We just felt the ground would be too wet for him on Saturday and decided to give it a miss,” said the Pond House trainer.

“There’s the Triumph Hurdle Trial at Musselburgh (next weekend), and there’s also a race at Exeter he could run in. They are the only two options for him really – otherwise, we could just give him a racecourse gallop and go straight to Cheltenham in March.”

Adagio is a best priced 10-1 with William Hill for the Triumph Hurdle, making him the shortest-priced British contender behind Gordon Elliott’s Zanahiyr and Willie Mullins’ new recruit French Aseel.