Sizing John to miss Leopardstown as Jessica Harrington plays waiting game

Sizing John will not run at Leopardstown this Christmas, according to trainer Jessica Harrington, who reports her 2017 Gold Cup winner to be 15 kilograms above his ideal racing weight.

Harrington will instead play the waiting game with her star chaser who has not been seen since finishing a disappointing seventh of the 12 runners in last season's Grade 1 Leopardstown Christmas Chase, a race for which he was sent off the 9-10 favourite.

Speaking to Unibet, Harrington said: “I have decided to take Sizing John out of Leopardstown over Christmas because I’ve been unable to get a suitable gallop into him on the grass because of all the previous dry weather we had.”

Sizing John was denied the chance to defend his Gold Cup crown in March after suffering a hairline fracture to his pelvis in the weeks leading up to the festival, but Harrington remains confident the eight-year-old will race again in the new year, and nominated the Kinloch Brae Chase at Thurles in January as a potential target.

Jessica Harrington: playing the waiting game with Sizing JohnCredit: Patrick McCann

She said: “He’s around 15 kilograms heavier than his usual racing weight and if he’d had a run already this season I wouldn’t mind running him, but it will be a tough ask first time out so we will instead give him a little more time and look at bringing him back in something like the Kinloch Brae, which he won in 2017, at Thurles next month.

“Everything is absolutely fine with him, but I took the decision to take him out so I wouldn’t be tempted to run!”

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