Racing: Nigel Twiston-Davies is to take Imperial Commander straight to the Cheltenham Festival - where the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup is his target.
The nine-year-old is also prominent in the betting for the Ryanair Chase - and there was talk of him taking in the Letheby & Christopher Chase at Cheltenham on January 30th en-route to the Festival.
However the trainer told Racing UK: "He will go straight to the Festival where I think he will just have an entry for the Gold Cup, this is his year for it."
Imperial Commander has had two runs this term, going down by a short-head to Kauto Star on his reappearance but could only finish a distant fifth behind the same horse in the William Hill King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day after making a bad early mistake.
"He's fine. He lost the race at the second fence at Kempton and that's it but he ran on well to finish fifth. It was just unfortunate, he's normally a very good jumper."
Imperial Commander is a 12/1 chance with Sky Bet for the March showpiece.