Emma Lavelle: In no rush with Mosspark
Emma Lavelle is in no rush to commit her impressive Sidney Banks Memorial Novices’ Hurdle winner Mosspark to the Cheltenham Festival.
The strapping gelding stretched his unbeaten record under Rules to three with a dominant display in the Listed event at Huntingdon, easily accounting for Spirit Of Shankly and Carraig Mor.
He holds an entry in the Albert Bartlett next month but Lavelle is not swaying in either direction just yet.
“Mosspark is a lovely, big-framed horse who will make some chaser,” she said.
“He’s come out of the race sound as a pound and I couldn’t have been happier with him.
“All options remain open at this stage, I don’t want to say yes or no just yet.
“The Albert Bartlett tends not to be the graveyard that many of the Festival novice events can be. Quite a lot of horses run in it and go on to make smashing chasers. I think that is because they go steady on the first circuit, not like in the RSA.
“We had Le Bec finish sixth in it last year and he learned from it, and there have been plenty of other examples down the years.
“Whether he goes or not it will be chasing next year for him.”