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James Owen suggested that his Triumph Hurdle favourite Burdett Road will receive an entry in the Unibet International Hurdle at Cheltenham next weekend.
An impressive winner on the level at Royal Ascot when under the care of Michael Bell, the Gredley-owned gelding has made a seamless transition to the hurdling game, backing up a wide-margin hurdling debut success at Huntingdon with a six-and-a-half-length victory in the Grade 2 JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial at Prestbury Park in November, rocketing him to the head of the Triumph market back at Cheltenham in March.
The son of Muhaarar looks an exciting prospect heading into the spring months and trainer James Owen is almost certain there's more to come from his four-year-old.
Speaking on Sky Sports Racing, Owen said: "He doesn't need to run before the Festival, but it would be nice for experience. I think next time he's going to put a better performance up, especially on better ground, it will help his speed and his jumping,"
"I'd like to get another run into him because he's a fresh horse, he was too fresh at Huntingdon, another run then five or six weeks into the Festival would be great.
Burdett Road has been partnered by Harry Cobden in both outings to date over hurdles, but Owen would not be worried if Cobden couldn't maintain the partnership due to other commitments.
He added: "I think Harry is keen to ride him and if he can't, there's plenty of good jockeys out there."
Many would have expected the James Owen-trained four-year-old to be contesting the JCB Triumph Trial at Cheltenham on January 27th, but with Nicky Henderson confirming star hurdler Constitution Hill's absence from the Unibet Hurdle (registered as the International, Owen revealed a tilt against his elders could be on the cards.
The Newmarket-based handler continued: "He'll be entered in two races on Trials Day, the four-year-old race and the older race, where he gets all the allowances. It's not a bad shout, he'd learn a lot in that race and if there were only four runners in the Triumph Trial, we might run him in the other one where he'd learn a bit more.
"The Triumph is the aim this year, as long as we get there in the same health we are now – a bit more experience would be great, which way we get there doesn't matter.
"Whether we go to Trials Day or if we are not happy or it's not on, that's why he is in in Ireland (Dublin Racing Festival), that's an option as well. The Adonis is there but personally I think that is too close, if we don't go to Trials Day or Ireland, I think we'd go straight there."
