Quinn mulls Countrywide options
Triumph Hurdle winner eyes a route to the Champion
Last Updated: October 14, 2012 11:31am
Newcastle's Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Cheltenham's International Hurdle are being considered for Countrywide Flame following his close second in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket on Saturday.
Last March's Triumph Hurdle hero made a winning return to the Flat game at Chester last month and was sent off favourite for one of the most prestigious staying handicaps in the calendar.
He ran an excellent race to go down by just half a length to top-weight Aaim To Prosper and trainer John Quinn is keen to find out whether he has a genuine Champion Hurdle contender on his hands.
That's Racing
He is likely to know more after his four-year-old contests either the Fighting Fifth on December 1 or the International a fortnight later.
Quinn said: "He's come out of the race fine. He's run really well and just got beaten - that's racing.
"We're delighted with him and he's such a tough horse.
"We'll give him a bit of a break and then either go for the Fighting Fifth or the Bula (International Hurdle). He won't run on the Flat again this time around.
"He had a hard race yesterday so we'll give him a chance and we'll find out how far he can go over hurdles.
"We know he's good - he's already won the Triumph Hurdle. Now we'll find out if he's good enough to be competitive in a Champion Hurdle.
"You'd like to think there is more improvement in him over hurdles."
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J J Quinn
Countrywide Flame
