• Cheltenham Festival

Peddlers Cross set for Jewson charge

ESPN staff
March 6, 2012
Peddlers Cross will run in the Jewson Novices' Chase at Cheltenham © PA Photos
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Trainer Donald McCain has confirmed Peddlers Cross will swerve the Arkle and go for the Jewson Novices' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

McCain's seven-year-old was beaten by 16 lengths by Sprinter Sacre at Kempton in December, and McCain has opted for the Grade 2 race, avoiding another clash between the pair at Cheltenham.

"After a lot of discussion between myself, Jason [Maguire] and owner Tim Leslie, it has been decided that Peddlers Cross will head to the Jewson Novices' Chase," McCain wrote in his Betfair blog.

"It has been a long road back from the setback he had at Kempton in December and we feel at this stage that the 2m4f event will be more beneficial to him in the long term, as we did when running him in the Neptune rather than the Supreme when he was a novice hurdler.

"Because of his problems after Kempton, we haven't been able to school him as intensively as we would have liked and feel that going that half stride slower in the longer race makes sense."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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