My Drogo set for switch back to smaller obstacles

Grade One winner My Drogo is set to revert to hurdles, with a run over the smaller obstacles at Exeter pencilled in for next month.

Dan Skelton’s charge has already tasted plenty of success over timber and was unbeaten during his novice hurdling campaign, which ended when securing top honours at Aintree in 2021.

It was thought he would prove even better once tackling fences, but a long injury absence which began early in his novice chasing season meant life over the larger obstacles never really took off.

He returned from 687 days off the track in Aintree’s Old Roan Chase in the autumn but, having finished down the field, connections have bided their time before now deciding to switch back to hurdles, where he will try three miles for the first time in the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle on February 11.

“He’s actually really well,” explained Skelton.

“He wasn’t quite right through November, nothing legs or tendon related, he just wasn’t really firing. We were just bearing with him and he’s now come back to something much more like what we have seen before.

“He will go to Exeter on February 11 for a three-mile handicap hurdle. We’re going to go back over hurdles with him and that’s when we will hopefully see him. We’re just going to get him back out and see how we go.”