Samcro participation at Cheltenham hinges on Tuesday workout

Samcro’s participation at the Cheltenham Festival hinges on how he works on Tuesday, Gordon Elliott said at Leopardstown on Sunday.

The Gigginstown House Stud-owned seven-year-old, winner of the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival last year, began this season as favourite for the Unibet Champion Hurdle with some bookmaker but has been disappointing and failed to register a win in three starts.

However, he was found to be suffering from a lung infection after finishing fifth in the Ryanair Hurdle on his latest start and, having recovered, could yet take his chance in the Sun Racing Stayers’ Hurdle with Apple’s Jade, who is in the same ownership, now Gigginstown’s principal hope in the Champion.

Betfair and William Hill quote Samcro at 14-1 but other firms, who offer the safety net of non-runner-no-bet, go 5-1.

Elliott told Gary O’Brien on Sunday afternoon that the majority of his Festival team would work on Tuesday, and that it would determine whether Samcro travels to the Cotswolds or waits for alternatives at Aintree and Punchestown.

“We will give them all a final bit of work on Tuesday and go from there,” Elliott said. “I don’t know about Samcro. He’ll work on Tuesday and we will make a decision then.

“I’ve spoken to Michael and Eddie [O’Leary, the owners] and there’s no pressure on me whatsoever. I’ll make the decision and we’ll do the right thing by the horse.”

Elliott landed the feature at Leopardstown, the €50,000 Tri Equestrian Handicap Chase, with another Gigginstown representative in Woods Well.

The 14-1 chance almost threw away victory when bungling the final fence but Mark Enright, despite losing his irons, kept the partnership intact.

“Mark gave him a great ride and it was nice a good pot to win,” Elliott said. “I thought he’d nearly thrown it away at the last. He’s in the Kim Muir in Cheltenham and it could suit him.”

The 4lb penalty that Woods Well would be burdened with at Cheltenham is likely to be enough to get him into the race near the foot of the weights. Betfair quote him at a best price of 66-1.

The final race at Leopardstown was run in heavy snow after rain earlier in the day.