Nube Negra on course for Shloer showdown with Edwardstone

Cheltenham on Sunday week will play host to two-mile cracker.

Dan Skelton is keen to have a crack at Arkle winner Edwardstone with Nube Negra in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham on Sunday week.

The eight-year-old famously beat Altior in the Desert Orchid Chase of 2020 before finishing a narrow second in the Champion Chase to Politologue.

He won the Shloer last season, but missed the Champion Chase due to a deluge on the day and signed off for the year with a below-par run at Sandown.

Skelton said on Wednesday: “There will be two very different mindsets between us and Alan King going into next week – one will want rain and one won’t! He can run on good to soft, especially when he’s fresh, but it’s very much the better ground, the better the horse with him.

“He’s been to the grass gallop this morning and had a good day out and worked as well as I’ve ever seen him to be honest. I think as he’s getting a bit older he’s drawing just a bit of stamina and he’s looking outstanding, so I couldn’t be happier.

“He’s irritatingly good fresh, if that makes sense. You have to give him these extended breaks between races, but we’ll see how we get on at Cheltenham. We would love to win the race again and if it happens we will make a plan after that. If we get beaten we’d have to go hunting for a race but if he can win it will take the pressure off as he can’t have a bad year so to speak.

“Edwardstone is a mightily high-class opponent, albeit one who is stepping out of novice company for the first time, so we’ve got a task on our hands.

“It was a massive blow to miss out on the Champion Chase, but when the conditions went the way they did it wasn’t a blow at all. If I’d have run him he could still have been out there now, but it was a blow to get that rain and miss out – of course it was.

“There’s unfinished business for sure and we’d love to get a fair crack at the race again in suitable conditions, but that’s in the lap of the gods as you saw last year.”

Skelton also has high hopes for Midnight River in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, the highlight of the three-day meeting.

“It would need to rain and rain and rain for this horse. I would certainly not be running him on anything other than good to soft, soft, but we’ve always held this horse in high regard.

Midnight River could run in the Paddy Power Gold Cup
Midnight River could run in the Paddy Power Gold Cup (Alan Crowhurst/PA)

“I think there’s a lot more to come from this horse and if it isn’t soft enough we’ll reroute to the December Gold Cup at Cheltenham. Ultimately I can see him stepping up to three miles in the spring, but this is a good horse and it wouldn’t surprise me if he took a leap up to Grade Two level this season.”

West Cork, winner of the Unibet Greatwood Hurdle last season, is among the entries once more and despite running over fences on Tuesday, could revert to the smaller obstacles.

Skelton said: “I spoke to Mike (Newbould) who owns him at length last night and we said we’d just keep an eye on the Greatwood in case it looked appropriate for us to go back over hurdles.”

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