Darkness Heading For Festival Leading staying novice Darkness is likely to head straight to the Cheltenham Festival without another run, trainer Charlie Egerton has confirmed. The seven-year-old has won four of his five starts over fences, including the Grade One Stan James Feltham Chase at Sandown on St Stephen's Day, and is favourite with all the major firms for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase at the Festival. 'I don´t think he will run again before Cheltenham now - I sort of contradicted myself because after he won at Newbury I said I would space his races out as I believe he is best fresh,' Egerton said. 'But when I looked at the programme book and saw what was available after Christmas, I got tempted into running him again when ideally he would have preferred more time between his races. 'I think he is a better horse going left-handed and AP (McCoy) gave him a masterly ride to win last time. 'He had to nurse him over the Railway Fences - a lesser jockey would have got stuck into him but AP knew what he was doing. I wouldn´t say he was jumping badly, just that he was awkward and that is why he will go left-handed again next time. 'If I do run him again before Cheltenham it will be in the Aon Chase at Newbury, but I would say he is more likely to go straight to Cheltenham, and almost certainly in the SunAlliance rather than the Gold Cup.'? PA Sport
