Mustard set to pass on Cheltenham outing

Smart novice more likely to wait for Aintree.

Connections of Colonel Mustard are set to bypass the Cheltenham Festival after finding Sir Gerhard a little too hot to handle at Leopardstown on Sunday.

Having previously chased home the talented Jonbon at Ascot, Lorna Fowler’s seven-year-old stepped back into Grade One company and finished 12 lengths adrift of the Willie Mullins-trained winner of the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle.

Yet despite those two excellent efforts, the County Meath handler has decided Colonel Mustard will likely swerve his engagements at the Cheltenham Festival.

Though currently as short as 20-1 for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle with Sky Bet and 25-1 with Paddy Power for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, Fowler feels Aintree now tops the list of potential landing sports.

She said: “He ran a huge race and tried his heart out on ground he didn’t really like – it was lovely ground, but he definitely does like it a bit more lively.

“He ran a huge race and I could not be more proud of him. He definitely knows he’s had a race – that was the hardest race he has ever had – and we will just let him come back to himself and enjoy being the star of the show at our yard. So, we are very happy with him.

“After that, it does make you shy away from Cheltenham a bit, because you very much know where you are at and you know what is around you, and you know where they are at.

“So, I think we will probably shy away from Cheltenham and we have certainly got the Aintree two-and-a-half-mile novice hurdle as an option. That’s probably highest on the agenda at the moment, but nothing is set in stone. I could keep him at home.

“A few of them could fall by the wayside at Cheltenham, and while you should never say ‘never’, Aintree is looking the most likely scenario.

“The track will suit him and he’s travelled before. That’s the provisional plan anyway.”

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