Nicky Henderson has indicated that Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Long Run is likely to make his seasonal reappearance in the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November.
The French-bred six-year-old was beaten in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham at his first start of last season, but went on to run away with the King George VI Chase at Kempton.
He dispelled any theories he could not handle Cheltenham’s undulations when beating previous champions Denman and Kauto Star in the blue riband, and Henderson believes there is a chance his star turn may even have improved over the summer.
“Horses are fickle things and everything has got to go right. The horse was just back in last week and looks great,” Henderson told At The Races.
“He’s not only done well through the summer he has also, without a doubt, grown.
“You might find that odd as a six-year-old, but he has definitely grown.
“He was due a holiday and while if he continues in the same vein as last year it might be good enough, you’d hope he might have improved a little bit as well. We’ll find out when the time comes.
“We have a little campaign mapped out and Sam (Waley-Cohen, jockey) has always been great on him.
“I would think he’ll almost certainly go to Haydock first and then the King George.
“Then we’ll decide whether he has another run between the King George and Cheltenham, which we didn’t do last year but it’s there if one wanted to use the AON Chase or something like that.
“There is the incentive this year with the extra gap to even think about Liverpool (Aintree) as well and hopefully we’ll see a little bit more of him.”
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