Bard Set For Badger Date

Keltic Bard will attempt to book his place in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup with a good show at Wincanton this weekend.

Charlie Mann's nine-year-old had been strongly considered for last Saturday's United House Gold Cup but connections elected to wait for the £70,000 Badger Ales Trophy Handicap Chase at the Somerset venue.

Mann's charge has been limited to just one outing since beating Thisthatandtother in novice company back in April 2004, but a close-up third in last season's Sky Bet Chase underlined that he has retained plenty of ability.

Mann said: 'He will definitely run (at Wincanton) and he's in great form.

'He needs to have a run before the Hennessy basically so this will be his prep-race.'

While Mann had been keen to have a crack at last Saturday's valuable affair at Ascot, he felt the ground might have ridden too fast to risk the gelding.

'I had nothing against the ground really and it rode better than it walked but if you had a horse that had previously had a problem you just wouldn't have run,' he explained.

'Keltic Bard's had a leg before so we'd never run him on that ground and he wasn't that ?well-in' in the Charlie Hall so we decided to wait for Wincanton.

'He ran a great race first time at Southwell last year and he'll run a good race on Saturday but he'll just need a run before the Hennessy.'

? PA Sport