Mate to take a break Best Mate is to have a long holiday following his victory in the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup, Henrietta Knight has revealed.'He`s very very well - top of the world. He`s going on holiday until next autumn,' the Wantage trainer said today.Knight hinted that the seven-year-old may be given a similar campaign to this season when he eventually starts the countdown to defending his crown.'He might go back to the Haldon Gold Cup again and start at shorter distances and work up again. He can go any distance this horse.'If you have got a horse that is so relaxed it can just switch itself off and keep going and then sprint, it doesn`t make any difference what the distance is,' she said.Best Mate has had four races this season.He began by winning the williamhill.co.uk Haldon Gold Cup over two miles one and a half furlongs at Exeter in November and then stepped up to two miles three and a half furlongs at Ascot where he was second to Wahiba Sands in the First National Gold Cup.He showed he stayed three miles when finishing second to Florida Pearl the Pertemps King George VI Chase at Kempton in December before his memorable victory over an extended three and a quarter miles at Cheltenham yesterday.Knight reported that her two other Gold Cup runners - Lord Noelie and Go Ballistic - could well race again this spring.Lord Noelie faded into 10th place behind his stable companion, while Go Ballistic was pulled up before the second-last fence when in arrears.'The ground was just a bit sticky for Lord Noelie,' said Knight.'He ran a very good race in fact and just got tired towards the end.'I was delighted with him and he`ll probably go to Liverpool for the Martell Cup if it doesn`t rain. He was second to First Gold in that race last year.'Failing that he may go to somewhere like Punchestown, there may be a race for him there. He`ll have another race somewhere.'As for Go Ballistic, we haven`t decided what his future is. But he may go for the race at Sandown in which he was second in last year to Marlborough.'
