Waley-Cohen plays waiting game with Run Owner-trainer Robert Waley-Cohen is praying for some dry weather to allow 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Long Run to make his hunter chase debut in the coming weeks. The 11-year-old has not been seen in competitive action since finishing down the field at Auteuil in May 2014, when in the care of Nicky Henderson, but is closing in on a comeback - despite missing out on an intended spin after racing at Larkhill point-to-point on Sunday. Connections want to get Long Run qualified for the Foxhunter Chase, for which he is a best-priced 5-1 joint-second favourite, at the Cheltenham Festival in March. Waley-Cohen said: "We were going to take him to Larkhill, but we didn't bother in the end as it was so wet. "The idea was for him to have a nice day out, but he wouldn't have done in that ground. "The pressure is off a little bit at the moment as I don't think we're going to have decent ground anywhere for a while, so we'll just have to be patient. "He's not eligible to run in a point-to-point, sadly, and there are only three hunter chases for him in January. "There's one at Taunton (January 13), one at Kelso (January 17) and one at Warwick (January 28), but I'm not sure the ground is going to be suitable anywhere, with the way the weather is at the moment. "He has to finish first or second on two occasions to qualify for Cheltenham, so if I have to give him two quick runs in February, that's what I'll have to do. "I'm working on the assumption this rain will have to stop at some stage." Asked whether he was confident Long Run retained his enthusiasm for the job, Waley-Cohen said: " Some days he is enthusiastic and on other days he seems to find it all a bit boring. "He was born in 2005 and has been racing since May 2008, so he has been on the go a long time. "We'll find out whether he still wants to do it when he gets back on the racetrack."
