Jagwar to take direct Cheltenham route

Jagwar is likely to head straight to the Cheltenham Festival after leading home a one-two for Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero at Prestbury Park on Saturday.

The JP McManus-owned gelding claimed his third win from four starts over fences in the novices’ handicap chase which kicked off Festival Trials day, reeling in his front-running stablemate Billytherealbigred after the final fence.

While Jagwar will now be aimed Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase on day three of the Festival in March, Billytherealbigred could sidestep the showpiece meeting and head elsewhere.

Guerriero said: “It was a shame one of them had to get beat and we never thought they’d be first and second to be honest, but there you go.

“Jagwar will go to the Festival, I don’t think Billy will get in because he gets a big allowance for his age. I don’t know yet, but we’ll probably look for something else with Billy.

“I would say Jagwar will go straight to the Festival. We’ve always thought a lot of him and it’s just taken time, but he’s starting to come together now. His jumping has got a lot better and he looks a lot more professional, so hopefully we’ll start to see the best of him now.

“Billy goes in really bad ground, so if we can find a nice pot for him somewhere on bad ground, he’ll take a lot of beating I think. We’ll try to do a bit of pot hunting and entry watching and try to find a pot for him somewhere.”

Another Greenall-Guerriero inmate with big-race plans is White Rhino, who was last seen unseating Henry Brooke in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.

The nine-year-old had impressed in winning his two previous races over fences and will look to bounce back at Ascot next month.

“He’s going to go to the Reynoldstown in a couple of weeks and then hopefully to Cheltenham for the National Hunt Chase,” Guerriero added.