Paul Nicholls leading staying star Clan Des Obeaux will now head to the Punchestown festival next week after the Ditcheat handler confirmed on social media that he would be supplemented for the Punchestown Gold Cup, instead of heading for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown.
Dual King George winner Clan Des Obeaux got back to winning ways at Aintree in the Grade One Betway Bowl having gone four races without success before that.
Last season he started his term off over in Northern Ireland in November with Nicholls sending him into the Grade One Champion Chase at Down Royal and he finished a smart second behind Road To Respect and it worked out to be the perfect prep run ahead of the King George VI.
He went on to become a dual King George winner on Boxing Day 2019 and looked to add a third on the 26th December 2020 having had a superb prep run at Haydock.
Having not gone down the same route as last year with heading over to Down Royal, Nicholls took Clan Des Obeaux to the Merseyside track for the Grade One Betfair Chase.
CLAN DES OBEAUX IS HEADING FOR PUNCHESTOWN...
— The Winners Enclosure (@TWEnclosure) April 21, 2021
After an outstanding performance at Aintree, trainer Paul Nicholls has confirmed that he's been supplemented for next weeks Punchestown Gold Cup 🏆
🤔 The right move?!
🎬 @RacingTV pic.twitter.com/l9Z2VM2SLo
Having ran a stormer the whole way round, the heavy ground in the final stages told and saw him finish a close second to triple winner of the race Bristol De Mai.
He headed to Kempton full of confidence, but unfortunately it was not to be with stablemate Frodon stealing the show.
Next time out he was seen at Newbury in the Grade Two Denman Chase, which he won last year, but this time he around he was narrowly outstayed by stablemate Secret Investor.
Nicholls was hoping that the addition of headgear would bring him forward at Aintree, with many thinking he had lost his enthusiasm in his older age, but they could not have been more wrong with the gelding taking the event by 26 lengths.
It was then thought that the star would either do one of two things, either finish for the season and be aimed at the King George VI Chase next season or go to Sandown for the bet365 Gold Cup.
However, it has been revealed that the team will do neither of those things and will instead head over to Ireland for a crack at the Grade One Punchestown Gold Cup.
A tweet read from Paul Nicholls: “After discussions with the owners of Clan Des Obeaux we have decided that we are going to supplement him for the Punchestown Gold Cup next Wednesday and run him there and not at @Sandownpark.”