Haddex Des Obeaux decision to be made for Moore

Smart six-year-old has a weekend option, but weather has complicated matters.

Gary Moore is pondering his next move with runaway Warwick scorer Haddex Des Obeaux.

The six-year-old opened his account over fences when making all at Doncaster over the Christmas period, and showed improvement when blitzing the opposition from the front off a 6lb higher mark to land the Edward Courage Cup at the weekend.

Haddex Des Obeaux holds an entry for the Godstone Handicap Chase, which was originally due to be run on Friday’s abandoned Lingfield card but has been saved and moved to the Sunday of the track’s Winter Million weekend.

However, having been raised 10lb for his Warwick saunter, the switch has left Moore scratching his head as instead of competing under a 7lb penalty on the original date for the race, the son of Saddex would have to race off his new figure of 146 in the rearranged contest.

He said: “I was very pleased with him and he showed improvement that I didn’t really believe was there.

“I always thought he was a nice horse and my biggest worry was would he act on that testing ground. But the answer to that we found out is he is better on that ground.

“He might have beat a few out of form horses and a few might have underachieved on the day, but I thought he won quite well and he jumped well. He’s only a first-season novice and I was very pleased with him.

“The handicapper has put him up 10lb so he needs to progress again and he’s down to run in what was Friday and is now Sunday – which half mucks me up because if he was to run on Friday he runs with a 7lb penalty, but if he runs on Sunday he has to line up off his new mark which is 10lb higher.

“Whether we run or not it’s something I need to think about and decide on and speak to the owner. He’s come out of the race at Warwick really well, there’s some good prize-money on offer and the only good thing about it is it gives him an extra two days.”

It appears Graded assignments will be handed Haddex Des Obeaux’s way moving forward, with a return to Warwick for the Kingmaker Novices’ Chase and even the Arkle mooted as possible options.

And Moore hopes that further progression from the Olly Harris-owned gelding will see him end the campaign right in the mix with the best of the two-mile division.

“He wasn’t a cheap horse and he could develop hopefully into a decent two mile chaser,” continued Moore.

“The Kingmaker is an option, why wouldn’t you go back there (Warwick). He’s 146 now so handicaps are nearly out of the question.

Wigley Group Classic Chase Day – Warwick Racecourse – Saturday 14th January 2023
Haddex Des Obeaux ridden by Jamie Moore goes on to win The Wigley Support Fund Edward Courage Cup Handicap Chase during the Wigley Group Classic Chase Day at Warwick (Nigel French/PA)

“He’s in the Arkle which if you’d have suggested that two weeks ago I would have said you are crazy – you probably aren’t going to get the ground which improves him at Cheltenham but you never know with this country. Whether we go there or wait for Liverpool I’m not sure.

“He’s going to be running in these races hopefully and there’s nothing better than a good two-mile chaser. It’s probably not the strongest division in Graded races – look at the Clarence House on Saturday, it’s only three runners.”

He added: “He’s got to progress a lot (to reach that level) and I have a lot of respect for the likes of Energumene, Shishkin and Edwardstone – they are very, very good horses.

“He’s got a long way to go to be up with that sort of class but I would love to see him do it for the horse’s sake, the owner and ourselves most of all.”

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