GOSHEN is set to make his eagerly-anticipated chasing debut at Ascot at the end of the month.
The Gary Moore-trained gelding, who had the Triumph Hurdle at his mercy in 2020 only to dramatically unseat Jamie Moore at the final flight, proved himself to be a high-class hurdler and signed off last season by winning a second Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton.
The popular six-year-old is far more effective racing on right-handed tracks and looks poised to make his debut over the bigger obstacles in the extended two-and-a-quarter-mile Ascot Underwriting Novices' Limited Handicap Chase on October 29, a race Moore won with Nassalam 12 months ago.
Goshen had won three juvenile hurdles in impressive fashion prior to his Cheltenham mishap, and then went off the boil in two runs on the Flat before finishing plum last in the Unibet International Hurdle.
But he bounced back with his two Kingwell Hurdle triumphs, as well as a 15-length rout of International Hurdle winner Guard Your Dreams in a Listed Hurdle race at Sandown in February. He has also twice been placed in handicaps on the Flat this summer.
His last run saw him beaten a neck by Tritonic at Goodwood earlier this month, a race that Moore sees as an ideal tune-up to a novice chasing campaign.
Moore said: "I was very pleased with that. It was a good performance and he's taken it well.
"He hopefully runs at Ascot at the end of the month. We're looking forward to it.
"It wouldn't be soft enough like the ground they had on Saturday, but anything softer would be fine."
