King aims Crystal D´Ainay at John Smith´s Hurdle

Alan King today revealed that he intends to run Crystal D´Ainay in Saturday´s £40,000 Grade Two John Smith´s Hurdle at Wetherby.

He said: 'The John Smith´s Hurdle is the plan for Crystal D´Ainay and he is due to work tomorrow.'

Last season the five-year-old won twice and finished third in the bonusprint.com Stayers´ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, coming home 14 and a half lengths behind Iris´s Gift.

The Wiltshire-based trainer reports his charge in good form ahead of his seasonal debut.

'Crystal D´Ainay has done very well over the summer and we´re very happy with him. He looks a little bit more mature this season,' enthused King.

'He´s fairly straight but I´ll be disappointed if there´s not some improvement later on - my horses usually do improve for a run.'

All five of Crystal D´Ainay´s successes over Jumps have come on ground with a bit of moisture in it.

The handler continued: 'I´ve never been brave enough to run Crystal D´Ainay on quick ground. I always think he is best on ground with a bit of cut as he´s won on soft and heavy and I´m sure this type of ground suits him.

'It´s not so much that he doesn´t handle faster ground - I´m just more relaxed if it is decent and safe ground. Obviously he is a horse I think an awful lot of and I´d always be reluctant to risk him on quick ground.'

Crystal D´Ainay will not have things all his own way as Philip Hobbs could be represented by Grey Report, who is also among the 11 possibles for this event.

The trainer said: 'Grey Report has been entered for the John Smith´s Hurdle. He won four races last season and was third in the Royal & SunAlliance Novices´ Hurdle at Cheltenham and second in the three-mile novices´ hurdle at Aintree.

'He stays very well and we thought that this race was a possibility, although he´s also been entered for Chepstow on Saturday. He has done extremely well over the summer and I´m very happy with him.'

Grey Report and Crystal D´Ainay could also lock horns with National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup hero Native Emperor, who could revert to the smaller obstacles, and Telemoss, fourth in the bonusprint.com Stayers´ Hurdle in 2002.

The John Smith´s Hurdle is one of 63 races involved in the British Horseracing Board´s new Order of Merit competition. The connections of the overall winner with the most points throughout the season will receive £200,000 - 75% to the owner, 12.5% to the trainer and the same again to the stable staff. The winner of the John Smith´s Hurdle, as a Grade Two event, will score 15 points while horses placed second to eighth will be allocated points on a sliding scale down to two points for eighth.