Lieutenant goes straight to RSA First Lieutenant will head straight for the RSA Chase at Cheltenham in March following his much improved performance at Leopardstown yesterday. The six-year-old is already a Festival winner having won last season's Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle, leaving trainer Mouse Morris excited about what the gelding could achieve over fences. His novice chase campaign has not gone exactly to plan so far as although he has won twice, he has now been beaten three times and was pulled up on his penultimate start in the Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse. Stepping up to three miles for the first time and encountering better ground for the first time this season, First Lieutenant was a slightly unlucky second in Wednesday's Fort Leney Novice Chase and Morris feels it is far too early to write off his stable star. "He's great this morning and considering what happened the time before at Fairyhouse, I was pleased with his run," said Morris. "He made a mistake at the second last which didn't help. I'm not saying he'd have won, but he'd have finished a good bit closer. He just got in a bit close to the fence. "Apart from that one mistake I thought he jumped super and the more times I watch the replay, the more pleased I am. He really attacked his fences yesterday, which he hadn't been doing as much before. "The better ground obviously helped him so we'll give him a break now and go straight to Cheltenham for the RSA Chase. "We know he likes the track as he won at the Festival last season, when he got better as the season went on. Hopefully he does the same again. "He's 20/1 for the RSA and I wouldn't put anyone off backing him at that price. We might have lost the battle, but we haven't lost the war yet."
