Racing: Best Mate leaves the heavy work to Edredon

Those of us waiting to do homage at the shrine of Best Mate, the handsome, charismatic chaser who captured so many hearts last season, will have to wait a little longer. Common sense, as the seven-year-old's trainer, Henrietta Knight, put it yesterday, has prevailed down at West Lockinge Farm, and the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner is not to be asked to take on some of the best of the brigade of emerging two-mile specialists in the Haldon Gold Cup. Plan B is that Jim Lewis's gelding is now scheduled to make his seasonal debut in the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon 18 days hence.

The chase course at Exeter is riding on the fast side of good, which is not ideal for Best Mate. But it was not only the underfoot conditions which mitigated against his reappearance in a race that 12 months ago announced his readiness for the fencing big league. The drop back to the shorter distance of the Grade Two contest and the concession of 16lb and more to young Champion Chase aspirants were factors as pertinent.

"After lots of discussion, we all decided that it was not in the horse's interests to ask him to give all that weight to those very fast young horses," said Knight. "After running over three miles and more he might not have the speed to cope with them under the conditions."

The Haldon Gold Cup is run over a short two and a quarter miles; the Peterborough Chase over an extended two and a half. "He'll have to carry top weight in that too," said Knight, "but at least it's a conditions race, not a handicap, and the weight gap won't be so yawning."

The baton of responsibility is instead handed to Lewis's other celebrity, Best Mate's best mate Edredon Bleu. The pair spent the summer together, happily mucking about in the paddocks below the downland near Wantage shared by Oxfordshire and Berkshire. "They both did terribly well, and Blue is as sprightly as ever," said Knight, before adding tantalisingly, "Matey did a lot of jumping at home last week, just playing around. He was just a joy to watch." Roll on Saturday fortnight.

Edredon Bleu, who has won the last four Peterborough Chases, may, at the age of 10, be past the prime that won him the 2000 Champion Chase but, despite the fact that he will be shouldering top weight, his boldness and gameness will still provide a stern test for his younger rivals round the testing Devon track. The thrusters include two of last term's best minimum-trip novices based in Britain, Seebald and Armaturk, with the eight-year-olds Latalomne, Ichi Beau and Castle Prince added to the mix.

The Martin Pipe-trained Seebald, who had only his Arkle Chase conqueror Moscow Flyer rated above him among the first-season chasing ranks, beat Armaturk (Paul Nicholls) on two of the three occasions on which they met last year.

Latalomne, the star of Brian Ellison's small string at Norton, was travelling well when upending two out in the latest Champion Chase, in which Edredon Bleu came fourth. His jockey that day and on most other occasions, Vinnie Keane, has been replaced by Mick Fitzgerald, whose experience as horseman and jockey were seen to such good effect on Marlborough on Saturday.

"Vinnie has done nothing wrong," said Ellison, "and has done a lot of schooling since Latalomne came back in. It took the horse a while to get over that Cheltenham fall but he's now jumping brilliantly, pinging them. But if he's going to do anything it's going to be this season and the owners wanted to give him the best chance possible, and Mick will suit him well."

If today has panned out as the first shakedown of the season for the two-mile division, the second comes on Saturday at Down Royal, where Moscow Flyer is set to begin his road to Cheltenham in the Kiltullagh Properties Chase.

The main event at the Northern Ireland track promises a confrontation between two true titans of the chasing world, Florida Pearl and See More Business – winners of 30 races, including three King George VI Chases and a Gold Cup, between them – in the James Nicholson Champion Chase. The three-miler, upped to Grade One for the first time this year, has been Florida Pearl's starting point for the past three seasons, yielding a win, a fourth, and a third to Foxchapel King, who renews rivalry on Saturday. Local bookmakers Paddy Power make Willie Mullins's charge the 11-8 favourite, with See More Business at 11-4.

Williamson on the move

Norman Williamson, now based in Ireland, took a step closer to his next target in Britain of 1,000 victories when Balinahinch Castle won a novices' hurdle at Warwick yesterday. Balinahinch Castle was the first winner that Williamson has ridden for his father-in-law, Timmy Hyde, and the jockey is going to be a regular commuter across the Irish Sea in coming months as he is only 26 short of the landmark. "I will keep coming back until I get there," he said.

Warwick will stage its first £100,000 race in January. The Tote Classic Chase will be a handicap run over 3m 2f and is expected to attract Gold Cup and Grand National hopes.