David Pipe is preparing to give Supreme Novices’ Hurdle favourite Moon Racer a “low-key” assignment on his next appearance.
The eight-year-old is a best-priced 6-1 jolly for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival but Pipe admits a lot could change before they arrive at Prestbury Park.
The winner of the 2015 Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, Moon Racer returned from 13 months off the track to finish a close second in the equivalent event at last season’s Punchestown Festival.
He then made a successful start to his hurdling career when seeing off Champion Bumper hero Ballyandy at Perth in September, and franked that form with an impressive display in a Supreme trial at Cheltenham two months later.
Pipe said: “Moon Racer is in good form and is probably going to have a run later this month.
“I think we’re going to go low-key somewhere, but we’ll see.”
But the Pond House handler is not getting carried away about his Irish import’s chances for the Festival‘s curtain-raiser.
“He probably does (set the standard), but there’s a long way to go,” added Pipe.
