Beshabar not certain to run in Coral Cup

Owner Harry Findlay has revealed that ante-post Coral Cup favourite Beshabar could miss the Cheltenham Festival.

The eight-year-old, formerly trained by Nick Williams, had spent 21 months on the sidelines before joining champion Paul Nicholls this season and he has proved to be an intriguing recruit.

He continued his progress over obstacles when battling on gamely to win the Betfair Handicap Hurdle at Ascot two weeks ago, having previously run out a convincing winner of a Grade 3 handicap at Sandown on his previous start.

The sponsors make him 8-1 clear favourite for the ultra-competitive 2m 5f Coral Cup on 17 March but Findlay is concerned that the drying ground will not be in his favour over a distance ideally shorter than he will prefer.

Findlay said: "If there is no 'soft' in the description of the ground, I don't think he'll run, mainly because there is no need to, really.

"He's a great big, gangly horse who has had a year out and I'd rather look after him. We were lucky enough to have a little touch with him at Sandown and the big plan will be the RSA Chase at Cheltenham next year. There's no real demand to run him this time. He's an exciting horse for next year."

Big Fella Thanks runs in Findlay's colours in the Grade 3 Raymond Mould Supporting Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Newbury tomorrow, as he continues his preparation for a tilt at next month's John Smith's Grand National, for which he is Sky Bet's 14-1 co-second favourite behind the Nicholls-trained stablemate, Tricky Trickster.

"It's just a warm-up. It doesn't make any difference what he does there, it is just a spin round," said Findlay.

Preference is for CAN'T BUY TIME (3.10pm), who looked ideally suited to a testing 2m 5f when winning over that distance at Cheltenham last time.

He is usually seen coming with a late flourish and there is no stronger man to roust him in a finish than champion jockey AP McCoy.