Chief Sending Right Signals Ahead Of Cleeve Assignment

Cumbria trainer James Moffatt believes his stable star Chief Dan George is ready to shine in the £60,000 Grade Two Byrne Group Cleeve Hurdle (3.50pm) over three miles at Cheltenham's Festival Trials Day on Saturday, January 26.

The Cartmel handler revealed this morning: 'Chief Dan George is going to run. He is very well and came out of his last race in good heart. We will be hoping that with more cut in the ground the horse will start showing something like the form he was in last year.'

Chief Dan George won five times last term, collecting Grade Two novice hurdles at Wetherby and Haydock prior to defeating last year's Festival winner Wichita Lineman by four lengths in a Grade One contest at Aintree in April

Moffatt believes there are mitigating factors for the eight-year-old's failure to repeat that top-class form in two outings this term. Chief Dan George finished fifth to Inglis Drever in the totesport.com Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury first time out and was a distant seventh behind Lough Derg in the BGC Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on December 22.

The trainer reported: 'The horse excelled last season and although he has disappointed a bit, I think he definitely needed the run at Newbury and the ground was too quick for him at Ascot. To be fair, there are only a certain amount of races he can run in but I probably would not run him on that quick ground again in top company.

'He is a horse that takes a race or two to come up to his grade and he went for two racecourse gallops before Newbury. Last year he was running in tin-pot novice hurdles at the start so it was not too noticeable. He won his first race at Hexham and you can win at Hexham half-way there with a horse of his ability.'

Moffatt retains plenty of confidence in his charge's talent and is of the opinion that he will disprove any doubters on his favoured soft going, although he is under no illusions as to the task facing Chief Dan George now that he is competing with the likes of Inglis Drever and Blazing Bailey.

Moffatt continued: 'Chief Dan George will come good because he has plenty of ability and he will pick up a nice race. He is out of novice company and is playing with the big boys now so it is a fair step up. We have done everything right with the horse, the ground is soft and I am sure he will now start to show his true form.

'On his Aintree run he is up there with the best but I think they went too quickly that day. Our horse is a soft ground horse and although it was good that day, they turned it into a stayers' race, which played to his strengths. His true form for me was at Haydock last year when he defeated Itsalegend by 15 lengths.

'Brian Hughes rides the horse on Saturday. He has ridden him a lot at home and rides for me all the time. He has done a lot of schooling with him so we want to give him his chance. He deserves it because he is a model professional.

'People like John Wade, Alan Swinbank and myself are supporting him in the hope that we can have a northern champion conditional this year.'

Last year's renewal of the prestigious Byrne Group Cleeve Hurdle went to the Alan King-trained Blazing Bailey, who defeated the brilliant Inglis Drever, trained by Howard Johnson. The latter gained revenge next time out when collecting a second triumph in the Grade One Ladbrokes World Hurdle at The Festival.

Inglis Drever and Blazing Bailey are both set to lock horns again in a renewal, which could also see Wichita Lineman, victorious at the 2007 Festival in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle, attempt to strengthen his claim to the three-mile hurdle crown.

The field for the Grade Two contest could also feature the hat-trick seeking Grade One victor Lough Derg from the in-from David Pipe yard, recent Ascot winner Labelthou, trained by Emma Lavelle, and the Francois Doumen-trained Millenium Royal who defeated the Tom Hogan-trained Irish raider Sonnyanjoe in the lucrative Betfair Fixed Brush Handicap Hurdle at Haydock in November.

The seven-race cards features four Grade Two contests with the highlight being the £100,000 Grade Two Letheby & Christopher Chase (2.40pm), a leading trial for the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, over an extended three miles and one furlong.

Going Update

Cheltenham Clerk of the Course, Simon Claisse, revealed this morning: 'The going on the hurdles and chase courses is currently soft, good to soft in places with a Turftrax going stick reading of 6.8 and the ground continues to dry out. There may be a little late rain today but Friday and Saturday are expected to be dry and bright.'