Wylie Waits On Weather

Extremely testing conditions could rob Cheltenham of Graham Wylie's star horses Inglis Drever and Tidal Bay this weekend.

The millionaire owner has 2005 Ladbrokes World Hurdle winner Inglis Drever, seen just once in well over a year, in a potentially vintage renewal of the Byrne Bros Cleeve Hurdle that also includes the likes of Black Jack Ketchum and Mighty Man.

Although the eight-year-old, who won on his seasonal reappearance at Newbury, has plenty of form with cut in the ground, connections would not want to get to the bottom of him too quickly.

The same applies to the also Howard Johnson-trained Tidal Bay, unbeaten in three hurdle starts and a winner in a red-hot event at the track last month, who is entered in the Ballymore Properties Novices' Hurdle on the same card.

'Heavy ground would not be the ideal preparation prior to the Cheltenham Festival,' said Wylie.

'All the horses are fine and stood in a box at the moment. Howard will keep them ticking over and if it is desperate, we will have to make a decision on Friday.'

Black Jack Ketchum is, however, on course, albeit with trainer Jonjo O'Neill also monitoring the situation

The Jackdaws Castle handler said: 'He is in great form at the moment and the plan is to run.

'He has run on soft ground before but never heavy. I don't mind running him on heavy as he needs match practice, but he wouldn't want it sticky.

'The way the ground is at the moment, I don't want to tear the guts out of him and he does go so well on good ground.

'If all goes well after the weekend he will go straight to Cheltenham. If he doesn't run this weekend I don't know where else he could go as this has always been the plan.'

Unbeaten in eight races, Black Jack Ketchum was last seen running out a facile winner at Prestbury Park in December and also scored at last year's Festival in the Brit Insurance Novices' Hurdle.

(C) PA Sport