Harry Whittington is keen to preserve the novice status of Affaire D'Honneur for next season
Monday 21 March 2016 11:12, UK
Affaire D'Honneur is set to head into next season with his novice status intact after trainer Harry Whittington stated his intention to give his high-class hurdler a well-earned break.
Runner-up at Kempton in December on his British debut, the five-year-old has since finished fourth in both the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury and the Imperial Cup at Sandown.
Whittington is confident there is more improvement in his charge.
He said: "He just ran a bit flat at Sandown and nothing has come to light. With him not winning a hurdle, he keeps his novice status for next season.
"He will have a break now and we might step him up in trip, but he is not the finished article. He has got a lot of options next season.
"Hopefully he will run around September time in a maiden hurdle as that is what he needs to win.
"It was tough for him being a novice running in two of the top handicaps, but he has finished a respectable fourth in both.
"Hopefully he can win a couple of early-season races and I suppose if that went well, we would look at some of the novice graded race events and go from there."
