Williams happy to take his time on Cheltenham target for Libberty Hunter

Evan Williams is yet to decide if Libberty Hunter will take his chance in the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival or bid to go one better in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual 40 minutes later.

The nine-year-old has shown a real liking for Prestbury Park, winning twice at the undulating Cotswolds venue and finishing second in his only other appearance at the track during last year’s Festival.

Libberty Hunter has been given the option of correcting the record in the Grand Annual after the entries for the handicap contests were revealed on Tuesday, currently disputing favouritism as a general 8-1 chance.

However, he is also engaged in day two’s feature event and would be more than worth his place judged on his fast-finishing second in Newbury’s Game Spirit Chase earlier this month, with his Champion Chase odds ranging from 25s to 40-1.

Williams will weigh up all possibilities before making a final call, with the weather forecast leading up to the Festival and the likely opposition that his charge would face in each race set to prove key to deciding which race the soft ground-loving gelding ends up.

“I suppose we will have to see what the weather does and that will be the deciding factor with him,” said Williams.

“He’s in both races because the two-mile option is best to stick to and it will be very much down to what stays in what races and of course the weather is going to have a massive impact as well.

“I don’t know if it will be a late call, but he wants cut in the ground, it is as simple as that. Cheltenham can change very quickly and a couple of wet days can make it a very different place to a couple of dry days.

“Cheltenham suits him and we’d love to get there. We’ll have to look at the handicap and there’s a few higher than us in there at the moment. Could the Grand Annual look a different race this year? I guess none of us are going to know until nearer the time and something like that could have an impact.

“The weather is probably the main factor though and very soft ground could change the look of the Champion Chase massively. Very soft ground is a huge leveller.

“It’s probably silly to have concrete ideas at this stage, but we’re very keen to get to Cheltenham and if we can get there in the same form as we went to Newbury then we’d be looking forward to it.”