Leading Trainer Alan King will be watching the weather forecasts very closely over the next few days in a view to whether his star Sceau Royal will return to Cheltenham in the Grade Two International Hurdle.
The eight year old has been tried over both hurdles and fences during his career and although winning races like the Shloer Chase and Henry VIII Novices' Chase over the bigger obstacles, last term showed that he was not good enough at the top level.
This has now seen his handler move him back to hurdles and it looks to be the right move off the back of his seasonal debut when taking the Welsh Champion Hurdle.
He used that run to the go on and land the the Grade Two Elite Hurdle at Wincanton next time out and then ran another cracker in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle finishing second to Champion Hurdle winner Epatante when stepping up to Grade One company.
Sceau Royal - what a classy operator
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) November 7, 2020
🏆 🏆 G2 Unibet Elite Hurdle
🏆 G1 Henry VIII Novices' Chase
🏆 G2 Lightning Novices' Chase
🏆 G2 Shloer Chase
A fine performance from Sceau Royal at @wincantonraces to remain unbeaten over hurdles this season for Alan King & @Dazjacob10 pic.twitter.com/7Yw0LB8Nzd
However, with the International Hurdle so soon after his latest outing, King is unsure as to whether he will run the gelding on Saturday and has admitted it will be very much a last minute decision.
(Credit ATR) The trainer said: “I’m going to wait and see what the weather does and he’s also got to do a little bit of work in the morning, so we’ll see how that goes.
“It’s obviously not long since the Fighting Fifth. He seems in good order, but I won’t make a decision until Thursday.”
The Isaac Souede and Simon Munir owned horse is currently 9/2 to land the Grade Two event with the current favourite being the superb Goshen for Gary Moore at 9/4.