Marlborough sparkles in workout

Marlborough came through a home workout with flying colours this morning and is on course to make his first appearance of the season within the next six weeks.

The 10-year-old had been due to run in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup earlier this month, but was ruled out of the Newbury race when he suffered a trapped epiglottis which required surgery.

Such was the speed of his recovery from the operation that a return to action in last month`s Pertemps King George VI Chase was considered.

But Marlborough`s season will now be geared towards the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup, for which he is a 14-1 chance with William Hill, behind 6-1 favourite Sackville.

Trainer Nicky Henderson confirmed: 'It`s early days and it was only routine stuff really but it was still pleasing to see him do everything that we asked him to.

'Now we know that he`s okay, we can start pressing ahead with him.'

Barry Simpson, racing manager to the gelding`s owner, Sir Robert Ogden, outlined the various optionsopen for Marlborough.

'Basically, we will be looking at races like the Pillar Chase (Cheltenham, January 26th), the AON Chase (Newbury, February 9th) and the Jim Ford (Wincanton, February 21st),' he said.

'It depends upon the horse and how many races Nicky feels that he needs before the Gold Cup.

'We were looking forward to running him in the Hennessy and also the King George. It was particularly frustrating for Nicky, who felt that the horse was in better shape than he had been ever before.

'We probably could have got him ready for the King George but it was one of those borderline cases and, if we had rushed him, it might have been too much, too soon.

'It`s only three and a half weeks until the Pillar but he has nothing to prove around Cheltenham. It will great to see him back on the racecourse.'