Trials day test for Taurus Bay

Harry Redknapp has Cheltenham Gold Cup contender The Jukebox Man to look forward to in March – and Taurus Bay is another of the former football manager’s recruits who could play himself into the Festival reckoning later this month.

Like Redknapp’s King George VI Chase hero, the Aintree winner is trained by Ben Pauling and having seen the form of his taking pre-Christmas victory on Merseyside franked by the well-regarded runner-up Captain Hugo, he will now step up in both trip and grade at Prestbury Park later this month.

Pauling said: “He’s going to go to Trials day for the Grade Two (Ais Novices’ Hurdle) and is in very very good form.

“He looks particularly well at the moment. He wouldn’t need a lot of work, so a couple of more medium pieces and he will be grand.

“I think he’s a very talented individual who we are just scratching the surface with really.

“I think at that level he will be more of a two-and-a-half-mile horse than a two-miler. He’s good enough over two to win nice races, but looking more towards the festivals he might want further, so I thought we would see where he sits at that distance before we get to the spring.”

Meanwhile, there will be no deviation from the original plan for the apple of Redknapp and Pauling’s eyes, The Jukebox Man, who will take a direct route to Cheltenham.

Pauling added: “‘Jukey’ is in great form and it’s very straightforward with him, he’ll definitely be straight to Cheltenham.”