Paul Nicholls is not too down in the mouth about Stage Star's poor performance at Cheltenham and may send him to the Aintree Festival.
The Fame And Glory gelding won three times before the start of the New Year and was considered one of Nicholls best runners in the Cotswolds.
Heading to the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle a 7/1 shot, Stage Star ran too freely and was pulled up by Harry Cobden two out to cap a disappointing Festival for the Don of Ditcheat.
The terrible going at Cheltenham is a valid excuse and Nicholls will be hoping for better ground come April on Merseyside should Stage Star make an appearance.
"He's fine, he came back fine. There were no issues with him, it just wasn't his day at Cheltenham," said Dan Downie, racing manager to the Owners Group syndicate.
"He was very keen and in that ground it was pretty clear fairly early on that it wasn't going to work.
"Harry looked after him and made sure he didn't have a hard time of it, and that's the main thing.
"You certainly couldn't judge him on that, he was beaten before the race really got serious so I think it is best to just draw a line under it and move on."
In many ways what course Stage Star appears at next is trivial compared to the decision on whether to stay hurlding or send him over fences.
"We're open minded really, he's got an option at Aintree which we will have a good look at it but he won't run unless we're really happy with him," he said.
"Again, we're open minded (as to whether he goes chasing).
"The plan was for him to go chasing at some point, but I suppose it will depend on if he runs again and how he does. We'll take a view over the summer, I should think."
