OLD PARK STAR EYES CHELTENHAM CHASE DEBUT IN ARKLE TRIAL SHOWDOWN

Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner Old Park Star could make his debut over fences in Saturday's Grade 2 Arkle Trial at Cheltenham, raising the prospect of an early-season clash with Dan Skelton's Kabral Du Mathan, the pair who head the betting for next March's Arkle. Nicky Henderson is leaning towards a return to the scene of the six-year-old's Festival triumph, the Racing Post reported on Monday evening, although the ground will have the final say.

Nothing has been confirmed yet. Henderson is keeping a two-mile beginners' chase at Ffos Las next Wednesday, 18 November, up his sleeve as an alternative, having already decided against an engagement at Carlisle on Monday.

Unbeaten over hurdles

Old Park Star went through last season unbeaten over hurdles for Seven Barrows. His campaign gathered momentum with a standout performance at Haydock, and he then got the better of Sober Glory under Nico de Boinville in the Supreme on the opening day of the Festival. Henderson made clear during the summer that he did not see him as a Champion Hurdle type and that fences were the natural next step, the route he previously took with Supreme winners Altior and Shishkin.

Kabral Du Mathan, who has improved markedly since moving from Paul Nicholls to Skelton, is among the entries for Saturday's contest. The race is the feature novice chase on the middle day of Cheltenham's three-day November meeting, a card headlined by the Paddy Power Gold Cup.

Sober Glory waiting in the wings

Sober Glory, runner-up in the Supreme and third in the Arkle market, is also yet to make his chasing bow. He has been handed a back-up entry in the Coral Racing Club Intermediate Handicap Hurdle at Newbury later this month, the race formerly known as the Gerry Feilden, but co-trainer Johnson White insisted there has been no change of plan. White told the Racing Post that the Ffos Las beginners' chase remains the target ground permitting, and that the horse is "all ready to go over fences" after schooling well.

That means a Supreme rematch could yet materialise in west Wales should Henderson decide Cheltenham's ground is not right on Saturday. Either way, the next eight days look set to reveal a great deal about the season's two-mile novice chase division, with the Arkle itself due to be run at Cheltenham on 16 March.