After Samcro was pulled out of the Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle just over a week ago the plan from the Gordon Elliott yard was to send the hurdling star to Newcastle in a battle with dual Champion Hurdle winner Buveur D'Air and this looks set to still be on the cards.
Elliott However, has got a keen eye on the weather forecast for the coming days to see if the ground will have enough cut in it for the six year old to be able to run in the Fighting Fifth.
This Grade 1 contest is set to be the first over hurdles in Britain this season and will give us a better idea of what the market and for that matter what horses will be primed for the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Samcro beat all in his path last season when staying on his feet and really made himself into a hurdler to be feared and the best over two miles for the season.
This season did not start the same with a shock defeat to sure to be competitor on Saturday in Bedrock who went to spoil the party of the Gigginstown owned Samcro on his seasonal reappearance at Down Royal in the Grade 2 WKD Hurdle.
The Irish trainer was very quick to want to go to Newcastle for this Grade 1 off the back of having to pull Samcro out of the Morgiana Hurdle just over an hour before the race that was won by the Willie Mullins trained Sharjah.
However, with out any rain the same could happen with the six year old proving on his seasonal debut that he is not at his best when the ground is quick. The ground at Gosforth Park on Sunday was revealed to be good to soft with the track taking on nearly 40 millimetres of rain throughout last week.
(Credit Racing UK) Elliott said: “Samcro did a nice piece of work on Friday and the plan is still the Fighting Fifth. We just need a bit of rain over there now.”