Owen looking forward to Festival with strong team of hurdlers

James Owen is starting to finalise his plans for the Cheltenham Festival, with a string of live chances over hurdles for the Gredley family.

Owen has shown a particular talent for converting proven Flat performers into smart prospects over timber.

Burdett Road is a four-time winner on the level, with the highlight being his win in the Golden Gates Handicap at Royal Ascot in 2023, while he also took the Listed Godolphin Stakes at Newmarket last September.

And he has made his mark hurdling, winning his first two races and never finishing outside of the top three in five attempts.

The five-year-old, who was last seen finishing third behind Constitution Hill and Lossiemouth at Kempton on Boxing Day, has won twice at Cheltenham and will head to Wincanton before hopefully lining up in the Unibet Champion Hurdle on the opening day of the Festival.

East India Dock has impressed in all three of his hurdle outings since joining Owen and is among the favourites for the JCB Triumph Hurdle.

Liam Swagger also holds an entry in the Triumph, but Owen confirmed he is more likely to line up in the Fred Winter.

Lavender Hill Mob – who is set to run at Wetherby on Wednesday – and Opec will both likely have one more prep run before Owen decides where to send them.

Owen said: “Obviously, East India Dock will go to the Triumph Hurdle and Lavender Hill Mob will have one more run before we decide. He’s still a horse I rate quite highly.

“I think Liam Swagger will go for the Boodles (Fred Winter), he’ll probably have a prep run on the Flat and Opec we could run in the Adonis (Hurdle, at Kempton on February 22), or we could go straight to Cheltenham, we’ll see how she is over the next week or so.

“Burdett Road is on course for the Champion Hurdle. He is going to go to the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton.

“He looks great and he’s thriving with racing – and on form, he’s improving all the time, so I couldn’t be happier with him.”