Rise in distance on the cards for Navajo Indy

Navajo Indy is to be stepped up in trip having run on into third place in Saturday’s William Hill Hurdle at Newbury.

Winner of the Gerry Feilden at the same track earlier in the season, the Tom Symonds-trained six-year-old then went to Windsor for the valuable Sovereign Handicap Hurdle.

He finished fourth behind Secret Squirrel there, leaving the impression he would be better over further, but due to Windsor’s idiosyncratic nature, Symonds wanted to give him one more run over two miles on a conventional track.

Fitted with cheek pieces for the first time, Navajo Indy was again outpaced at Newbury before staying on strongly and it is likely to be his last run over two miles for a while.

“I’m never one to really rush with stepping them up in trip,” said Symonds.

“He beat a strong field in the Gerry Feilden at Newbury and then we went to Windsor where he was beaten and you start questioning if it was the track. So, before we went up in trip, I wanted to try him again at two miles at Newbury, where he’d proven to be potent before, but it was glaringly obvious.

“They jumped off and he was handy but by the time he’d got to the first, he couldn’t go the gallop. Gavin (Sheehan) said he was going as fast as he possibly could the whole way. He’s a slow two-miler rather than a speedy one, so I’d say he’ll be one to look forward to over further now.

“I don’t know if he’ll go chasing next year as he doesn’t have the look of a chaser, but then look at something like Kitty’s Light.

“At the start of the year, I thought he might be one for the Lanzarote but I kept him over two miles after the Gerry Feilden.

“I think we’ll look to go further over hurdles for the rest of this season and that will help us make up our minds about next year because it is a pretty slim division the staying hurdling one – albeit there are some very good ones.”