Rachael Blackmore to ride Ben Pauling's new recruit Bad in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham on Tuesday.
A winner last time out in France, Pauling took over his training in December but decided to keep his powder dry having been allotted an opening mark of 126.
With Kielan Woods currently sidelined and Luca Morgan pencilled in partner stablemate Samuel Spade, Pauling wasted no time in snapping up the services of Blackmore, who is of course no stranger to success at the meeting in the past couple of seasons.
“I’ve had Bad since December and he is a horse who I thought was going to get a higher mark than he possibly did coming over from France, so I decided that we would keep him under wraps until this point,” said Pauling.
“There’s no two ways about it, a 22-runner handicap on likely soft ground is no easy first assignment – but he seems a very straightforward horse with a good attitude and he jumps well, I’m looking forward to it.
“We’ve booked Rachael as I think Nico (De Boinville) will end up riding the (Nicky) Henderson horse (Arclight) so I thought we’d better try and get somebody to replace him because Kielan Woods is injured and Luca Morgan is going to ride Samuel Spade.
“Samuel Spade has done absolutely nothing wrong. The only time he got beat he was trying to give Perseus Way 8lb and he’s now rated 132 and we’re off 126 so he’s got to give us 6lb this time. We only got beat three lengths so it’s quite a big swing.
“I think he’ll be well suited by the track and he handles soft ground so he goes there with just as good a chance as anything I think.”
READ NEXT:
Ireland's Grand Slam novices urged by Johnny Sexton to embrace their golden opportunity
Henry de Bromhead heads to Cheltenham Festival with different outlook following death of son Jack
Dublin can overcome player turnover to make a mark this year, insists Ronan Hayes
Rachael Blackmore hungry for more success as Cheltenham edges closer
Cheltenham Festival Quiz: Test your knowledge of the famous meeting
