Trainer Tom Foley today rebutted a newspaper report that said he was planning to have star chaser Danoli deliberately pulled up after just one circuit in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown on February 6th.
The 12-year-old has had a history of injury problems - he broke his off-fore fetlock after winning the Martell Aintree Hurdle in 1995, and has not raced since October 1998.
Foley was quoted in today's Racing Post as saying: "I won't have him fit enough for the Hennessy and what I would like to do is give him one circuit and then pull him up."
Such an action could have led the Leopardstown stewards to take action under rules covering schooling in public.
However, Foley said today: "I definitely had no intention of doing anything like that, I'm not that stupid."
Foley is hoping to run Danoli in the Grade One contest but warned that the horse might not run at Leopardstown if he did not think he was ready.
"When we came back at Leopardstown after he was injured at Liverpool I thought he'd only stay a mile and a half but in the end he surprised us and was only beaten a half a length and a short-head," Foley said.
"We're quite happy with him and if it was October and you were taking on horses having their first run you'd be very, very happy with him. But the fact is we are taking on horses that are ready for Cheltenham.
"We're trying to get him ready and we'll try and stay with them for as long as possible.
"At the moment we'd be hopeful of running there but in a fortnight's time, if it is looking like he won't be ready, he won't go.
"We'll give him a couple of schools on the Flat but three weeks is a long time."
Danoli is among the entries for the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.
