First Lieutenant eyes Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby
Last Updated: 23/10/14 2:46pm
First Lieutenant is likely to make his seasonal reappearance in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday week.
Mouse Morris' top-class chaser was under consideration for the West Yorkshire highlight 12 months ago, but connections eventually decided to head to Down Royal for the JNwine.com Champion Chase on the same weekend.
However, the nine-year-old was a disappointing favourite in Northern Ireland and Morris is favouring bringing him to England for his return this time around.
Morris said: ``We're probably going to go to Wetherby with him this year as he doesn't seem to go too well in Down Royal.
``If something happens with the weather, we could switch back to Down Royal, but Wetherby is probably where we're heading at the minute.''
Following his Down Royal run a year ago, First Lieutenant went on to run some excellent races in defeat, filling the runner-up spot in the Lexus Chase, finishing third in the Hennessy at Leopardstown and second in the Punchestown Gold Cup.
Morris hopes his charge can get back on the winning trail in the coming months.
``I'm very happy with him. He's getting older now, so we'll have to see how he bounces out this season,'' said the County Tipperary-based trainer.
``He's a horse who never seems to run a bad race. He just has a habit of finishing second a lot!
``He ran in blinkers on his last run and we'll keep them on for now.''