The Warren Greatrex trained La Bague Au Roi looks to be skipping the King George VI Chase in an attempt to get her career back on track and will head to Huntingdon for the Grade Two Peterborough Chase instead.
The trainer is very keen on getting his mare back in the same sort of form that saw her unbeaten in her first four races over fences last season where she picked up two Grade One wins at Kempton and Leopardstown.
She made a very underwhelming seasonal return at Wetherby at the start of November when being pulled up in the Grade Two Charlie Hall Chase, jumping well below par and looking a shadow of the horse she was last year.
(Credit At The Races) “She’s going to work on Wednesday and as long as that goes well, she’s on course for it,” said Greatrex.
“That’s the plan, unless something unforeseen happens between now and then.”
As said before Greatrex at the start of the season was looking at the Kempton feature on Boxing Day as La Bague Au Roi's big target for the season but plans have been changed since then, although they have left her with an entry just in case she does get back to her best on Sunday.
“She’s still in the King George and if she went and won well and showed us she was in good heart, then we could still go to Kempton. It’s quite close but you never know,” he said.
“It looks a good race on Sunday and that is what we want to see. She’s in good form and if she goes there in tip-top condition, which she is, then with the weight allowance she’s got a good chance."