Richards to check ground for Monet Nicky Richards is to check out conditions at Aintree tomorrow before committing Monet´s Garden to the totesport Bowl Chase. The Penrith trainer would like to run the grey in the #160,000 contest but is worried soft ground might test the 10-year-old´s stamina over three miles and one furlong. As a precaution, Richards has also left Monet´s Garden in the two-and-half mile John Smith´s Melling Chase on Friday at the 48-hour final declaration stage. "There´s a little bit of rain around. I just didn´t want to take any chances if it was a little bit dead and slow tomorrow," he said. "It´s probably going to be beautiful ground and he´ll probably run tomorrow, but just in case it did come up a little bit wetter than expected then he would go in the two-and-a-half miler instead. "We´ve got to have a slight concern about the trip. I know he´s won over it, but at that level I have a slight concern. At the moment he´s going for the Bowl as long as the ground´s okay." Monet´s Garden is a three-time Aintree winner and in October defeated Kauto Star, who is also among an elite field of five declared for the Bowl . Kauto Star, put in his place by stable companion Denman when chasing back-to-back victories in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last month, is one of two from the Paul Nicholls stable. The other is Racing Post Chase winner Gungadu. David Pipe´s Our Vic, who landed the Ryanair Chase at the Festival, and the Jonjo O´Neill-trained Exotic Dancer, complete the line-up.
