Cheltenham: Sublimity, the subject of recent support for the Anglo Irish Bank Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham, is a possible for Punchestown on February 5th.
The ex-Michael Stoute-trained six-year-old was an impressive winner of his only start over timber at Leopardstown over Christmas and it had been mooted that he would travel over to Ayr for an outing.
However, trainer John Carr says the bottomless ground at the Ayrshire track last weekend was unsuitable for his charge.
"The ground was very heavy at Ayr and the owner didn't really want to go over, and with one thing or another we just bypassed it," explained Carr.
Sublimity was a useful performer for Stoute and won at Listed level before moving over to Carr's Co Kildare base, and the trainer says there are very few options available to him before March.
"There isn't much more for him before Cheltenham now," continued Carr, "There's a Grade Two Hurdle at Punchestown (Byrne Group Plc) which Justified won last year on his way to Cheltenham. "Other than that we can run him in a schooling hurdle which are every other week now which is just a way of getting a run into him."
The lack of races is not a worry to Carr because the horse is proven to go best when fresh.
"He won the Doncaster Mile for Michael Stoute first time out," continued Carr. "He won a hurdle race first time out, he was only beaten a short distance in a Group Three as well.
"He's a better horse fresh but even though he won first time out over hurdles, we had him in about four schooling hurdles before that. They're a good workout for the horses.
"He loves soft ground but he's also a very good horse on good ground as he proved on the Flat."
Carr is used to having runners at tracks such as Hexham and Sedgefield, so talk of a runner at the Cheltenham Festival is all new to him. And he admits to being excited by the prospect of sending over a runner with a serious chance.
"It's very hard for me to gauge how good he is because I've got nothing of his calibre to work him with and I've never had one this good before," he said.
"I really don't know how good he is but I know one thing, when I ride him in a bit of work he's some machine.
"He's got a high cruising speed and he can quicken up off a fast pace. When he won on his debut it wasn't as if there was nobody there. It was a big meeting and he did it easily."
