Buddy One © Photo Healy Racing
Paul Gilligan was successful with Zeeband in Leopardstown yesterday and, afterwards, gave an update on his possible Cheltenham contenders.
He said: “They all worked the other day at the Curragh and worked well.
“Buddy One is in the Stayers' Hurdle - whether he’s good enough I don’t know, but he’s in good form and we’ll give it a shot.
“He’d a very sore back after running at Leopardstown over Christmas. We’ve had him treated and he seems a totally different horse since."
Buddy One has a good record at Prestbury Park having finished third in last year's Martin Pipe before landing a valuable handicap hurdle in November.
“Sequestered is in the Coral Cup, but I doubt if he’ll get into it and he’s also in the Martin Pipe," the trainer added.
“He’s rated 128 here and 132 in England. He’ll run well off a fast gallop.
“I took him there in November and probably concentrated more on beating Captain Teague which wasn’t the best thing to do. We should have ridden him the way he needs to be ridden which is take our time and he’ll come home.
“We might enter him in Uttoxeter as well just in case he doesn’t get in, and we can run him while he’s over there.
Meanwhile, Kings Hill was victorious in a maiden hurdle at Thurles last month and is being readied for a trip across the Irish Sea.
Gilligan said: “Kings Hill will run in the Supreme. We were going to go down the handicap route, but he needed four runs to get handicapped as a novice.
“He’s owned by two good lads (PNT Partnership) and hopefully he runs well for them.”
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
