Tingle Creek an option as Waiting Patiently team eye drop back in trip

High-class chaser Waiting Patiently could drop back to two miles for the first time in three years in next month's Betfair Tingle Creek.

Winner of the Grade 1 Ascot Chase over 2m5f in 2018 when beating Cue Card and Frodon, Waiting Patiently was ruled out of his scheduled return in the Haldon Gold Cup this month following a bad scope.

Trainer Ruth Jefferson has identified a choice of three starting points over the same weekend, with Sandown's two-mile showpiece on December 7 and the following day's Peterborough Chase and John Durkan Chase – both over 2m4f – under consideration.

"The races are over different trips and we've got the ground to consider, and we'll pick the most suitable race," Jefferson said.

"If the ground was soft, heavy in places, we wouldn't be worried about going back to two miles. From Brian's [Hughes] feedback last year, he felt he was travelling very well early on in the King George and it might be worth coming back in trip."

Having raced only 12 times in four years, Waiting Patiently has had a stop-start career but Jefferson believes her stable star is fully over his latest setback.

"He scoped dirty and had a bacterial infection that was quite resistant to antibiotics but it has cleared up," she said. "It didn't stop him doing his day-to-day cantering but he missed fast work for a week. The lads who ride him have been thrilled with him."

Waiting Patiently is not quoted in the ante-post betting for the Tingle Creek, a market headed by Defi Du Seuil at 2-1 following his victory in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham on Sunday.

Previous winners Un De Sceaux and Politologue, second to Defi Du Seuil at Cheltenham, are next in the list at best prices of 4-1 and 5-1.

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