Peddlers Cross to go for Cheltenham Festival straight
Peddlers Cross, a black gelding trained by Donald McCain, is set to land in the Cheltenham Festival in March without participating in any other race in the intervening time.
Before the high-profile Cheltenham Festival, which is scheduled to begin on March 13, the novice horse has two options available to him including Warwick and Kelso, but his trainer does not want to fully prepare for the Racing Post Arkle Trophy without
wasting his momentum.
Starting at 2:05, the Grade 1 race at about 2 miles distance will have 27 runners including Al Ferof, Astracad, Bagber, Baily Green, Blackstairmountain, Bog Warrior, Call The Police, Cristal Bonus, Cue Card, Escort’men Foildubh, For Non Stop, Kid Cassidy,
Kumbeshwar, Lucky William, Menorah, Nearest The Pin, Pacha Du Polder, Peddlers Cross, Realt Mor, Sanctuaire, Shot From The Hip, Sir Des Champs, Sprinter Sacre, Tajweed, Zaynar and Alasi.
McCain seems to be greatly confident of his trainee’s skills, claiming that Peddlers Cross will exhibit outstanding performance, and end up with triumph in the upcoming event. He also reveals that the horse is in immense form and firepower to unleash
in March.
The trainer said, “There has been plenty said about Peddlers Cross after Kempton but I can give you the latest on him and it all seems to be very positive. He seems very happy in himself and he is back on the road and working very nicely. Having weighed
up the options, I would think it is highly likely that he will now go straight to the Arkle.”
He added, “There only seemed to be two suitable races that fitted in the timescale available to us and neither would be ideal.”
Starting his career on March 29, 2009, the seven-year-old gelding has won 9 out of the total 12 races so far. The talented horse set a record by winning first seven races of his career in a row. He has earned £274,476 so far.
This excellent success streak is enough to suggest that Peddlers Cross will turn the tables to bring home the Racing Post Arkle Trophy. This is why McCain has decided to rest him for the mega contest.
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