Cheltenham © Photo Healy Racing
Ambiente Amigo and Lavender Hill Mob are likely to carry the Gredley family silks in the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday.
That pair, along with fellow entry Liam Swagger, are trained by James Owen and are relatively new to the code having switched from the Flat earlier in the year, making their debuts appearances over obstacles in autumn.
Ambiente Amigo, a Postponed filly who secured black-type form on the level, won at the first time of asking at Newcastle and was then third when well beaten by stablemate Opec in a Listed contest next time out.
Lavender Hill Mob ran to a mark of 96 on the Flat and started out at Newcastle late last month, where he came home second behind Jedd O’Keeffe’s Inappropriate.
Those two are likely to take up their engagement at Cheltenham at the weekend, with alternative plans to be made for Liam Swagger after his two winning hurdle runs since taking to the discipline.
“I think it’s more than likely we’ll go with Lavender Hill Mob and Ambiente Amigo,” said owner Tim Gredley.
“I think we’ve got to put a bit of a line through them (their last runs).
“Lavender Hill Mob was a bit disappointing but he seems fine since the race, so we thought we’d chuck him in at the deep end.
“The filly (Ambiente Amigo) just didn’t settle last time, we think she’s much better than that.
“They can both take their chances on Saturday and hopefully we’ll see them run well.”
As for plans for Liam Swagger, Gredley added: “We’ll give him another run maybe, I’m not sure where we’ll go next but he’ll probably run once more and then have a little break to come back for Cheltenham fresh.”
