Whiteoak to run in Champion Last year's David Nicholson Mares Hurdle winner Whiteoak will bypass that race this year in favour of a tilt at the Champion Hurdle, her trainer Donald McCain confirmed on Thursday. The six-year-old won the inaugural running of the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle impressively last year and had been on course to defend that title. However, following weeks of discussions with the owners, McCain has decided to go for the Champion Hurdle. McCain said: "We have talked about it long and hard. Brendan Richardson (owner) is a sportsman and we will find out how good she is. "It is very hard to turn your back on a race at the Festival for which you are a short-priced favourite and would have taken all the beating in. "It is a very competitive Champion Hurdle but I think it is a very open Champion Hurdle. "There isn't anyone we wouldn't go and have a cut at on a Saturday and be competitive with - she goes there with every chance. "She has proved to us that she can travel at speed and jump at speed with the best two-milers at Wincanton. "You are taking it for granted that the other two have run their races but she was always going to come on bundles for the Wincanton race as she had a rushed preparation. "She is in the best form we have ever had her now and she has done nothing but improve since we have had her."
