Hereford United chairman David Keyte has Harry Topper running in the 2.25pm Argento Chase at Cheltenham tomorrow afternoon.
There are seven runners in the three mile race which has a total prize fund of £100,000.
Harry Topper, a seven year old, will carry 11st 10lbs.
He will be ridden by J M Maguire.
There was an article about Harry Topper's chances in the Daily Telegraph earlier this week.
Harry Topper, a horse Kim Bailey has likened to his 1995 Gold Cup winner
Master Oats, attempts to get his own Gold Cup aspirations back on track in
Saturday’s Argento Chase after disappointing last time out.
The seven-year-old was one of last season’s leading novice chasers, although
he ended up unseating his rider at Kelso in March before being brought down
at Punchestown. However he bounced back this season with a hard-fought win
over Wayward Prince and Unioniste in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby
before running below par in the Future Stars at Sandown when he was third of
three runners behind Vino Griego.
“In reality this race is probably his Gold Cup,” said Bailey yesterday.
“In reality this race is probably his Gold Cup,” said Bailey yesterday.
“The one thing we learned at Sandown is that he is totally ground dependent.
He had only run on soft or heavy ground before and when I walked the course
at Sandown I was tempted to take him out, but how can you when there are
only three runners and the course has gone to the trouble of putting decent
prize-money on?
“We avoided the Cheltenham Festival with him last year, taking the long term
view and the Gold Cup may still be a year too soon. However, providing he
runs well on Saturday, if the ground at Cheltenham in March came up very
soft you would have to think hard about running because it is not going to
be soft every year.”