Porticello heading on summer break after Festival outing

Exciting juvenile hurdler Porticello will bypass the Aintree and Punchestown Festivals and be roughed off for next season, according to trainer Gary Moore.

The Sholokov gelding went into the JCB Triumph Hurdle as the joint top-rated British-trained runner in a race that was dominated by Irish-based horses, yet he finished sixth to Vauban, the first of the British contingent.

Moore said: “It was good to see that he was the best of the English horses. But we knew it was going to be a difficult test.

“We will put him away now for the rest of the season and hopefully he will do well over the summer and grow into that frame he has got to fill.”

Gary’s son and jockey, Jamie Moore, added: “Porticello ran well, but he simply wasn’t good enough.

“I am pretty sure he won’t go chasing next year. He will probably go two-and-a-half-mile hurdling and take it from there.

“We will mind him a bit as we want him to be a six or seven-year-old three-mile chaser. That’s the dream anyway.”