Galmoy Hurdle and Red Mills Chase the preferred options for Presenting Percy

Presenting Percy's position at the head of ante-post betting for the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup continues to solidify in his absence, and it now looks increasingly as if last year's RSA Chase hero will follow a similar route back to Cheltenham.

Trainer Pat Kelly had warned it was unlikely he would run his stable star in Friday's Savills Chase at Leopardstown if significant rain didn't arrive, so it was no surprise the seven-year-old did not feature among the final declarations on ground that was on Thursday officially described as good on the chase course.

Last season, Presenting Percy's final two outings ahead of the festival came when he won the Galmoy Hurdle and finished second to Our Duke in the Red Mills Chase.

Those two Gowran Park races, the first of which is scheduled to take place on January 24 and the second just over three weeks later on February 16, would form the preferred route back there now, according to the horse's owner Philip Reynolds.

Sheer delight: owner Philip Reynolds punches the air in the winner's enclosure following Presenting Percy's RSA Novices' Chase triumphCredit: Edward Whitaker

The alternative plan would be to go to Cheltenham on the back of running in the Unibet Gold Cup at Leopardstown on February 3.

Reynolds said: "I wouldn't be surprised if we went back for the Galmoy Hurdle now, and then the Red Mills Chase. He has to run over fences and it would be nice to get two runs into him, so that would be my preference at the moment.

"It's either that or come back here in February for the Gold Cup, and just give him that one run."

With this year's Gold Cup one-two Native River and Might Bite among the contenders who have failed to make a real impact this term, Presenting Percy remains steady in the Gold Cup betting at a top-priced 9-2.

Clan Des Obeaux's odds plummeted from 50-1 to a top-priced 10-1 following his heroics in the King George VI Chase, but it is Reynolds' horse, who has not been seen since March 14, that is making the market.

"It's desperately frustrating," Reynolds admitted of the delay. "Pat is fairly philosophical about it. He keeps reminding me there's one day for this horse this season and that's Gold Cup day.

"We don't want to leave it somewhere else, so what can we do? The horse is ready to run but we just have to be patient."

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