CHELTENHAM NEWS

No rush over Navajo Pass

Donald Cain is keen to ensure he does not rush into anything with Navajo Pass despite upsetting Buveur D’Air on Saturday.

The five-year-old marked himself out as a real one for the future as he took on the dual Champion Hurdle hero, making all of the running under Sean Quinlan on his way to success in the New One Unibet Hurdle at Haydock.

Saturday marked his second successive win after earlier claiming the honours at Musselburgh on New Year’s Day and there is now a real buzz around the gelding.

A run at Cheltenham in March has been mentioned but McCain is in no rush to push his charge too early.

Aintree in April could be an option but the Cheshire handler says he is happy to bide his time and instead make sure he is ready for next season.

“Obviously, as everyone has been saying, the favourite probably needed the run, but he (Navajo Pass) went about his job in a good manner and did it really well. He came back well, so happy days,” McCain is quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “We’ve that one under our belt so there’s no panic. You never say never, but I can’t quite envisage we’re going to be going to Cheltenham because handicaps are going to be out of the question now.

“If we get one more run into him, maybe go to Aintree, that is probably the scenario, and then he’s next year’s horse really.

“He’s won a couple of races now this season. He’ll improve again for another summer and we’ll keep going forward. He’s changing all the time.

“It’s a pretty steep learning curve out of juveniles, but he seems to be finding his feet now and improving all the time.”

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