Last season’s Gold Cup runner up Gerri Colombe could warm up for this season’s ‘Blue Riband’ over hurdles after being ruled out of a return to action this weekend by trainer Gordon Elliott.
The star chaser was one of a trio entered by owner Brian Acheson’s Robcour team for Windsor’s featured Fitzdares Fleur De Lys Chase this Sunday.
Worth almost €200,000 in prize money, and won a year ago by L’Homme Presse, the Fleur De Lys features on the final leg of the lucrative Berkshire Winter Million Weekend which starts at Windsor on Friday. It returns to Windsor on Sunday after racing at Ascot in between.
However, Elliott subsequently said on Monday: “He won’t run at the weekend. He’s coming, but we are just not there yet. There is no point in running him until he’s ready.
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“The Dublin Racing Festival is only a few weeks away so it will be tight for that, but we’ll see. I’ll have to talk with Brian. It’s possible we could give him a run somewhere over hurdle.”
Elliott’s Fil Dor and Henry De Bromhead’s Journey With Me are among the 11 remaining in Sunday’s Windsor feature.
Gerri Colombe hasn’t been seen in action since finishing a lacklustre third when odds-on for Down Royal’s Champion Chase in November. Nevertheless, only old rival Galopin Des Champs and Fact To File are ahead of him in most ante-post betting lists for the Gold Cup in March.
The Ryanair winner Protektorat and Pic D’Orhy are among the potential home team, as is a potentially intriguing contender in Indiana Dream. JP McManus’s unbeaten runner won twice for Willie Mullins, including over fences at Navan over a year ago. The seven-year-old has been switched to the care of Jonjo O’Neill.
Tuesday’s domestic action is on the all-weather at Dundalk, where Cousin Shay can make a successful first step up to a mile and a quarter by scoring in the finale.
A four-time course winner, Natalia Lupini’s charge has won twice this winter over a mile, including on Friday when beating Free Solo by over three lengths.
It suggested a step up in trip should be no issue to the six-year-old, who carries a 7lb penalty and will again be ridden by Leigh Roche.
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