JOHNSON ISSUES ROUTE WARNING Howard Johnson has warned that his Queen Mother Champion Chase hope Direct Route will not run again this season unless the ground dries up around the country. The Crook-based trainer has pencilled in the Emblem Chase at Kempton on February 24th for the stable star`s reappearance, wet weather having thwarted plans to run him so far this year. He was last seen in action at Wetherby on Boxing Day when he finished last of four behind the improving Function Dream on heavy ground in the Grade Two Castleford Chase. Direct Route was dramatically caught in the last stride by Edredon Bleu in the Champion Chase 11 months ago, and Johnson is keen to give him the chance to go one better on the Festival stage. But he reasoned: 'We will only go where there is good ground - if it is good to soft at Kempton we won`t be sending him down there. 'If it is not good at Cheltenham we will wait for Aintree, if it`s not good there we will hope it is at Punchestown, and if it isn`t, then wewill put him out in the field for the summer. It is a waste of time running him on soft ground.'
