Talented chaser Ar Mad, trained by Gary Moore, will miss this year’s Cheltenham Festival due to a setback and will be targeted at the major spring Festivals: Aintree and Punchestown.
The mercurial seven-year-old front-runner ran better than the bare result suggested in the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown Park last time where he made a number of costly mistakes but stayed on well up the hill to finish only three and a half-lengths behind the winner Un De Sceaux.
The son of Tiger Groom was being prepared for a tilt at the Ascot Chase over two and a half-miles but in what has been an injury-plagued campaign for the gelding, he will now have to wait till Aintree or Punchestown for his next run.
Moore, writing in his Betway blog commented: “Even though he is coming along nicely, the Cheltenham Festival is going to come too soon and it looks almost certain that we will head straight to Aintree or Punchestown instead.
“There is simply no point rushing him back too quickly and you just can’t go to Cheltenham undercooked.
“It’s a shame, but by giving ourselves that little bit more time he will be spot on for one of those targets.”
Moore also outlined potential plans for 2014 Champion Chase winner Sire De Grugy who ran a cracker to finish a length second to Un De Sceaux in the Tingle Creek Chase. However, the French-bred gelding unseated rider Jamie Moore at Kempton Park in the Grade Two Desert Orchid Chase over Christmas and has not been seen since.
The Sussex-based handler is hoping to run Sire De Grugy at Chepstow before heading to the Festival. He said: “The plan for Sire De Grugy is to head back to Chepstow at the end of the month for the handicap he used as a Betway Champion Chase prep two years ago.
Moore said: “He has had plenty of time off since unseating at Kempton at Christmas time and Chepstow seems to suit him well, as he has won his last two starts at the track.
“Once we get Chepstow out the way, we can start to think about Cheltenham and whether he heads back to the Betway Champion Chase for the fourth consecutive year.”
Moore also warned that soft ground would be integral if the gelding was to run at Prestbury Park, adding: “At this stage, I’d say that he will only run if the word ‘soft’ appears in the going description.”
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