Some Man to skip Cheltenham in favour of Tetratema

David Christie has decided to resist the temptation of the Cheltenham Festival with his exciting hunter chaser Some Man and instead will target the Tetratema Cup in Gowran Park.

The Beat Hollow gelding was bought for 165,000 at Aintree soon after impressing in a four-year-old maiden point-to-point at Portrush but having failed to score in three outings for Paul Nicholls was snapped up for just 5,500 at Doncaster last year.

The half-brother to three winners including the useful Polly Peachum has gone from strength to strength for the Fermanagh trainer winning both point-to-point starts before readily justifying favouritism in a maiden hunter chase at Clonmel earlier this month.

However, initial plans to qualify the seven-year-old for the Foxhunters at Cheltenham have been shelved with Christie preferring a domestic campaign.

“The one plan I don’t have for him is Cheltenham. I’ve worked that hard to get him back to himself that I don’t want to go over and fry his brain in Cheltenham,” he said.

“He’s only had one run over regulation fences and I’d have to rush him to get him qualified. There are so many horses qualified at a high rating over in England that I might not even get to the qualifying date.

“I might run him at Thurles (on February 20) but the Tetratema at Gowran Park (March 7) is going to be my main aim and then I’ll see how he goes for the rest of the season.

“I’ve been chuffed to bits with him but he’s been hard work to get him back to that and I could throw it all away just by being blinkered to Cheltenham.

“He’s only seven and everything is there in front of him. Hopefully I can keep him in one piece.”