Jagwar team to make late Cheltenham call

A late decision can be expected on the Cheltenham Festival target for up-and-coming chaser Jagwar.

The Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero-trained six-year-old is three from four over fences and enhanced his reputation when winning at Cheltenham on Trials day in January.

Owned by JP McManus, Jagwar heads the market for the Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap and the TrustATrader Plate, which are both on the Thursday of the showpiece meeting.

“He is in great form and looked brilliant doing his fast work,” Guerriero said. “He will do his last bit of fast work on Saturday and then he will be ready to go.

“The drying ground will be a plus for him, he will be even better on quicker ground, he seems in great form and looking forward to it.

“I think with him it’s all about his jumping and if that all sticks together. He was a lot better last time at Cheltenham and seemed to cope with the track, but he needs to makes sure he jumps well or he will have no chance.”

Guerriero stressed a call on which race Jagwar will contest had not yet been made.

“No, we have to see what declares in what. They are both on the same day so ground won’t come into it or the track, so it will literally be what we feel will be easier to win, which we won’t know until we see what’s declaring in what,” he said.

“Ideally, we would go for the novice because you would think they would go slightly easier earlier on and find his feet a bit better, but we will have to see.”

Whatever race he goes for, one thing the Jagwar team do have in their favour is winning course form.

“Definitely yeah, which is why we went there,” said Guerriero.

“We said to JP early on, after he’d won a couple of chases, that we would go there in January and see if he copes with it, and then we can think about going to the Festival if he does, so it’s got to give you some confidence.”