Draycott to skip Cheltenham

Draycott Place has been ruled out of his engagements at the Cheltenham Festival, with trainer John Ryan looking further down the road to Galway with the novice chaser.

The six-year-old gelding holds an entry for the JLT Novice Chase and was also among the outsiders in the betting for the CHAPS Restaurants Barbados Novices' Handicap Chase.

He has been well held on his last couple of outings in good company but Ryan feels he will come into his own on better ground.

"He won't go to Cheltenham. He needs real good ground and probably long term he's a Galway horse," said the County Tipperary handler.

"We tried to go really wide with him the last day in Naas hoping for a bit better ground, but it wasn't (better ground) and he just gave too much ground away.

"We could run in a novice chase at Leopardstown at the weekend but we'll play it by ear with him.

"He's been in great form all the time but just hasn't handled the ground.

"We'll take it easy with him and if he drops a few pounds hopefully he'll win a nice handicap."