Hobbs Considering Cotswold Options Philip Hobbs will keep a close eye on the weather before deciding whether to commit Monkerhostin or One Knight to Saturday´s Letheby & Christopher Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham. Both horses hold entries in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, with Monkerhostin staking a strong claim by finishing a close second to Kicking King in the King George VI Chase while One Knight was running well before falling at the last fence in the Coral Welsh National. 'Both have been entered but which of them will run will depend on the ground,' the Minehead trainer told At The Races. 'If it´s good or faster Monkerhostin will run. If it´s softer then maybe it will be One Knight. There´s also the weather to consider. 'It depends which forecast you listen to but I would say it´s 50-50 about racing taking place.' Hobbs was delighted with Monkerhostin´s performance over three miles at Sandown on Boxing Day which saw him cut to 6-1 second favourite for the Gold Cup. 'At Sandown he got the trip extremely well,' Hobbs went on. 'Whether Kicking King ran his race or not, compared with the other horses we were definitely staying on. He got the trip no problem. 'We will monitor the two horses during the week and see how they are - that´s number one. 'Ideally Monkerhostin wants good ground which he isn´t really going to get on Saturday although he has run plenty of good races on good to soft anyway whereas One Knight will also go on good ground but he´s effective on soft. 'He was a bit sore in his near fore shoulder for a bit because he landed on that. He was very bruised but he soon got over that and he now seems absolutely fine again. 'He wouldn´t mind anything good or softer. It wouldn´t really matter how soft it is. 'There is another problem with One Knight. He has a handicap mark of 153 and there is the Country Gentleman´s Chase at Wincanton on February 18 which is a limited handicap. 'He´ll definitely be in the handicap in that so I wouldn´t want to be running him on Saturday against horses rated much higher than him. I don´t want to mess up his handicap mark. 'Both horses are entered on Saturday, but there´s a strong possibility it might be too soft for Monkerhostin and One Knight may be too wrong in the weights so neither of them would go. 'Whatever happens we´ll avoid both of them running.'(C) PA Sport
