Windsor winner Idaho Sun booked for bigger things

Harry Fry is keen to let the dust settle on Idaho Sun’s impressive display at Windsor on Sunday before deciding whether to prepare for a tilt the Champion Bumper.

A narrow winner on his racecourse debut at Newton Abbot in October, the five-year-old stepped up with a facile success in the final race of the Winter Million meeting.

Idaho Sun looks set for a further rise in class in the spring, but whether that will come at the Cheltenham Festival in March or at Aintree the following month remains to be seen.

Fry said: “He won nicely on his debut, we felt he’d come forward for that and the form had worked out well. The runner-up from Newton Abbot (Supreme Malinas) was third at Windsor, having won a Listed mares’ bumper on her next start, the third horse (Gentleman Toboot) bolted up at Fontwell on Boxing Day and even the sixth horse (Elysian Knight) has won over hurdles since.

“It was obviously an unknown stepping up in grade into a class two, taking on other winners, so to see him take the step forward and progress was very exciting. He’s a lovely horse for the future that’s for sure.

“We’ll look forward to going novice hurdling with him next year and for the rest of this campaign there’s probably only two races to look at and those are obviously the Cheltenham Festival bumper and the Aintree race. It’s just a case of working out which is the right race for him at this stage of his career really.

“It’s a great decision to have to make and we don’t have to make it straight away. He’ll tell us when he’s ready and we’ll see which route we take.”