Henrietta Knight today reported that Best Mate was "60 per cent likely" to go for the Pertemps King George VI Chase at Kempton on St Stephen's Day.
But Knight reiterated that the dual Cheltenham Gold Cup hero would switch to Leopardstown for the Ericsson Chase two days later if the ground at Kempton was firm.
"It's difficult to know. His owner Jim Lewis and I really don't know which race to go for at the moment because we want to do the right thing for the horse," she added. "We've got all the options open. We've booked him on the ferry to Ireland which we can cancel if necessary. He could still end up at Kempton, I don't know where he will go."
Mate finished second to Florida Pearl in the Christmas cracker two years ago but made amends last December when beating Marlborough by one and a half lengths. He has raced just once since winning a second Gold Cup in March when beaten by Jair du Cochet on soft ground at Huntingdon last month.
"We didn't go to Mick Channon's in the end, we were frosted off. He worked on David Gandolfo's gallops instead and he has done a lot of work this morning," said Miss Knight. "He's as well as ever. He's being filmed by Central Television tomorrow. He's jumping for them with Jim Culloty on board, then he's being filmed by another television company on Friday and then the Press boys are seeing him on Monday.
"He's got an audience most days now. He likes being a star."