Festival On Cards For Fundamentalist

Nigel Twiston-Davies has given Fundamentalist the thumbs-up to go for the Queen Mother Champion Chase after reporting the talented gelding none the worst for his fall in the Ascot Chase at Lingfield on Saturday.

The eight-year-old was giving jockey Carl Llewellyn all the right signals when the leader and eventual winner Our Vic came off a straight line so that he was short of room and took his eye off the fence.

Of that, Twiston-Davies said: 'At least he had gone round three-quarters of the distance and up to that point his jumping had been fine. He's come out of it well and the Queen Mother is the obvious race to go for. I have taken him out of the Gold Cup.'

Llewellyn has not given up on the prospect of Fundamentalist, a top novice at the beginning of last season, regaining that level of form at the Festival.

'He was giving me the same feel as he had done a couple of years back and the result of his fall is that we haven't been able to get a decent run into him ahead of the Queen Mother,' said the jockey.

? PA Sport