Mohaison gameplan still unclear
Connections of Star De Mohaison have yet to decide whether to give the Royal & SunAlliance Chase winner his first run of the season over hurdles on Saturday.
The five-year-old, trained by Paul Nicholls, is entered in the Lombard Properties Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham and is running out of prep races ahead of the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury on November 25.
“We have no firm plans at this stage. It was just one of those entries that might have have been inspirational more than anything else,” said Barry Simpson, racing manager to owner Sir Robert Ogden.
“Having missed out earlier on because of the ground conditions at Wetherby and Ascot we have to make our plans about what to do with this horse.
“If he’s going for a Hennessyhe needs a run beforehand. Running over hurdles is the only opportunity now before that race. It’s a possibility.
“If he doesn’t run in the Hennessy there’s a graduation race at Sandown in the end of November.
“It’s not certain he’s going to run this weekend. We are obviously going to keep monitoring ground conditions.
“We see they are watering at Cheltenham which suggests the ground is going to be quick and it’s a dry forecast.
“We are conscious of the fact that this is going to be his first run of the season. He is very well but there’s a long season ahead and we don’t want to run him on ground which could cause us some concern.
“It would not be not ideal to have the Hennessy as his first run of the season. Paul is pretty adept at getting them ready first time up but a competitive race like the Hennessy you’d like ideally have a race beforehand.
“If we’re denied that through the weather there’s nothing we can do about it.
“The horse is very fit. He was ready to go a fortnight ago in the Charlie Hall at Wetherby. It’s just a question of keeping him ticking over and getting a race into him.
“He’s a good ground horse. What he doesn’t like is extremes. He doesn’t want heavy ground – that’s for sure.
“Soft he would get away with and good to soft is not a problem.”
