Flooring Porter to head straight to Cheltenham as Cromwell focuses on positives

Gavin Cromwell has admitted his disappointment in Vanillier's performance in finishing a well-beaten third behind Fury Road in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Novice Chase at the Leopardstown Christmas festival on Wednesday, but said he would be taking the positives out of Flooring Porter's defeat to Klassical Dream in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at the same meeting on Tuesday.

The National Hunt Chase will be the main aim for Vanillier – winner of the Albert Bartlett at last season's festival – after he was reported to have come out of his Leopardstown run in good spirits, while Cromwell is planning on going straight to Cheltenham with Flooring Porter, who will be bidding to land back-to-back Stayers' Hurdles.

Speaking on Thursday, Cromwell said: "I was a little bit disappointed with Vanillier yesterday. It was a hard one to put your finger on, really. I think the ground was fine for him and he seems to have come out of the race okay, but they probably didn't go fast enough for him. I don't know if that made any difference either way as the winner was very good."

He added: "If we're thinking about Cheltenham, we'd probably go for the National Hunt Chase with him. I'm not sure if he'll have a run or not beforehand."

Vanillier: disappointed at Leopardstown and will now be aimed at the National Hunt Chase at the festivalCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

Flooring Porter was no match for Klassical Dream in what was a contentious Christmas Hurdle, with that rival stealing a march on the field at the start. However, Cromwell was happy to concentrate on the good run of his charge after the defeat.

He said: "Flooring Porter will go straight to Cheltenham. I was very happy with the performance, it was a really good run. I didn't actually realise that himself and Klassical Dream pulled so far clear of the rest until I came home and watched the race again.

"Don't get me wrong, maybe we'd never have beaten Klassical Dream, but I thought it was a fair performance from both horses and I'll be taking the positives out of the race with my lad."

Cromwell also revealed that Gabynako, who came third in the Grade 1 Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick on St Stephen's Day, will be freshened up and is also likely to head straight to the festival.

He said: "Gabynako is fine after Limerick. He just ran a bit flat and we're going to freshen him up now. He had a hard race in the Drinmore and, in hindsight, we probably shouldn't have run him at Limerick.

"I thought he was in good form leading up to the race, but it was one of those things where you don't know until you run. We'll freshen him up now and, if he goes to Cheltenham, he’ll probably go straight there. For what, I'm not quite sure yet."

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