Boylesports Enters L'antartique Equation

L'Antartique could yet bid for another big handicap by taking in the Boylesports.com Gold Cup at Cheltenham on December 15.

Ferdy Murphy's seven-year-old made the most of Granit Jack's tragic fall at the second-last over the weekend to power up the famous Prestbury Park hill for a convincing success.

Middleham handler Murphy initially nominated the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas as his next target and while there is a strong possibility he will head there, a rise of just 6lb has left the in-form trainer considering his options.

Murphy told At The Races: 'He's (the handicapper) has given us 6lb for his Paddy Power win and that would make the Boylesports very tempting, but we have Three Mirrors for that.

'I think we'll stick with the Lexus and see where that leaves us. He's only seven, he's improving and if he behaved well in the Lexus we'll have the Pillar and hopefully he's a Gold Cup horse.

'We're not ruling it (the Boylesports) out at the moment, the handicapper gave him that probably to encourage us to run.

'I'll have to speak to the owner. If Three Mirrors stays on track he'll go for it, but if anything happened to him we might change our mind.'

(C) PA Sport