Burdett Road will be considered for run against older horses

Nick Robson
January 17, 2024 3:57 pm

Triumph Hurdle favourite looks likely to be seen on Trials day at Cheltenham.

James Owen has raised the exciting possibility of Triumph Hurdle favourite Burdett Road running in the Unibet Hurdle next weekend.

A Royal Ascot winner for Michael Bell, he has been very impressive in two starts over timber to date in the hands of Harry Cobden.

While Cobden’s availability is not set in stone due to his link with Paul Nicholls, Owen is considering taking on the older horses as he feels he would learn more in a better race than if it was a small field in the JCB Triumph Trial on the same card.

With Constitution Hill no longer running in what is registered as the International Hurdle, run on Trials day for the first time this year, the race has suddenly opened up.

“He doesn’t need to run before the Festival, but it would be nice for experience. I think next time he’s going to put a better performance up, especially on better ground, it will help his speed and his jumping,” Owen told Sky Sports Racing.

“I’d like to get another run into him because he’s a fresh horse, he was too fresh at Huntingdon, another run then five or six weeks into the Festival would be great.

“I think Harry is keen to ride him and if he can’t, there’s plenty of good jockeys out there.

“He’ll be entered in two races on Trials day, the four-year-old race and the older race, where he gets all the allowances. It’s not a bad shout, he’d learn a lot in that race and if there were only four runners in the Triumph Trial we might run him in the other one where he’d learn a bit more.

“The Triumph is the aim this year, as long as we get there in the same health we are now – a bit more experience would be great, which way we get there doesn’t matter.

“Whether we go to Trials day or if we are not happy or it’s not on, that’s why he is in in Ireland (Dublin Racing Festival), that’s an option as well. The Adonis is there but personally I think that is too close, if we don’t go to Trials day or Ireland I think we’d go straight there.”