No decision on jumps career for Rules Moyglare Stud's breeding advisor Fiona Craig has warned it is by no means certain that high-class stayer Forgotten Rules will pursue a career over hurdles this season. Winner of last year's Long Distance Cup at Ascot, the Dermot Weld-trained five-year-old lost his unbeaten record when a fine third on unsuitably fast ground in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in June. Having failed to rediscover that form in three starts since, suffering a nightmare trip when defending his Long Distance Cup crown, a winter stint over jumps is under consideration and he is already as short as 16-1 for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, but Craig is refusing to look so far ahead. She said: " He has been schooling, but it's been in baby steps. People had obviously seen him school at the Curragh, Dermot said he might run over hurdles at Christmas and the next thing we knew it was in the headlines. That might be a little bit premature. "When I saw him school a couple of weeks ago over the baby hurdles he jumped fine. "Dermot is very happy with the form he's in, but when I see him in the ante-post betting for all sorts of races, I think that might be a bit too far advanced. "He's not turning totally into a jumps horse and will go back on the Flat next year, but obviously he's a five-year-old gelding and he likes soft ground. "My own feeling is Dermot won't throw him in at the deep end and will just find a kind race for him somewhere and see how he gets on. "I know there's a meeting at Cork just after the New Year, so that might be a possibility, but let's wait and see. "He's still in the early stages of schooling at the moment and if he shows any sign he doesn't want to do it, he won't be going jumping."
