Arkle hope Cloone River takes a break
Rising Irish star Cloone River, ante-post favourite for the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival, is to be given a rest before trying to claim top honours at the National Hunt extravaganza.
Unbeaten in two starts over fences, the eight-year-old is as low as 10-1 with Ladbrokes for the two-mile showpiece and had been considered as a possible for a Grade Two Novice Chase at Prestbury Park on Sunday week.
However, trainer Paul Nolan said today: “We have decided to give him a slight break. He won’t go to Cheltenham in November but he may have a run at the end of January, beginning of February, to get him ready for the Festival.
“That was the original plan anyway, but we decided to change it when he was in such good form. It seemed a bit mad to build all of his novice season around Cheltenham when there was such good prize money on offer.
“But the ground went against us and I didn’t want to bottom him out on really heavy ground, so I am now hoping that he will be as healthy in March as he was in Galway.”
Cloone River landed the Galway Hurdle by two lengths in July and has taken to the bigger obstacles with some aplomb.
“He is jumping out of his skin at the moment and I just hope that I am not wrong putting him away, but I do think that he is a spring and summer-type horse - he always looks better in his coat at that time of the year,” Nolan continued.
“He is always very correct in his jumping and has never put a foot wrong at home. He did meet a couple of fences wrong at Galway (in September), which is a tough place to jump round, but it was absolutely brilliant the way that he fiddled them.”
