Alan King is undecided whether to race Smad Place in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, but said an appearance is ‘unlikely’.
The Barbury Castle trainer spoke out following heightened interest in the eight-year-old following his dominant win in last weekend’s Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.
And while King would not completely rule Smad Place out of the festive race at Kempton, it looks like he won’t feature, while there will be no Cheltenham Gold Cup outing in the new year with him set to race in the Ryanair.
King said on At The Races: “It’s probably Cheltenham in January next, but I have left him in the King George, we’ll see. I’m not saying he definitely won’t run, but it’s more likely we’ll wait for Cheltenham.”
He added: “I suppose I’d just like to give him a bit longer, he’s a horse we’ve never over-raced and if we went over three miles on trials day [at Cheltenham] it would give us a proper idea if we should aim at the Gold Cup or the Ryanair.
“I definitely haven’t ruled out the Ryanair, people don’t want to be backing him for the Gold Cup at the moment.
“It [Gold Cup] looks a really strong division so we’ll have to see how everyone else is getting on and I’m a great believer in leaving options open, hence the reason he’s in the King George and why he’ll have an entry in the Ryanair.”
