Henrietta Knight today scrapped plans to run Best Mate in the Extraman Trophy at Sandown on Saturday.
The trainer had been thinking about running the exciting novice in the Grade Two event following his victory at Cheltenham earlier this month.
However, Miss Knight has decided to return to her original plan of giving the six-year-old a prep race closer to the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham in March.
'I think I might wait a bit longer with him,' Miss Knight said.
'I had thought about running him but we will try and space his races out.
'I`ve spoken to his owner and we might wait until late-January so we`ve got a nice gap before Cheltenham.
'It will probably be heavy in places at Sandown and although he doesn`t mind heavy I think he`s better on good ground.
'He`s a jolly nice horse and Cheltenham is the aim for him. I had thought about running him because he was so well after his last run but there is no point in being greedy.'
The Victor Chandler Lightning Novices` Chase at Ascot on January 13th could see Best Mate`s return to action.
'I only want to give him one more race before Cheltenham and if he ran on Saturday it would leave quite a long gap,' Miss Knight said.
'We`ll be looking at something like the Lightning Chase at Ascot.'
Miss Knight also confirmed that Edredon Bleu would miss the Mitsubishi Shogun Tingle Creek Chase on Saturday`s Sandown card in favour of a crack at the Pertemps King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.
'Edredon Bleu won`t run and is being prepared for Kempton,' she said.
