Ebor option for Sublimity

Champion Hurdle winner Sublimity could be given an intriguing entry in the totesport Ebor at York, according to handler John Carr.

The County Meath trainer initially mooted the Scottish Champion Hurdle as a

potential next port of call but that plan has now been shelved.

Current options facing the new champion are the ACC Bank Champion Hurdle at

Punchestown or a return to racing on the Flat, a sphere in which he has twice

won at Listed level.

"I've a lot of ideas in my head about where to take him next but Liverpool is

definitely out," Carr explained.

"I will enter him for Punchestown and I'll also enter him for the Listed

Alleged Stakes that he won at the Curragh two years ago on the Flat.

"We could even put him away and aim him at the Ebor at York, or maybe not run

him at all. We are going to make a positive decision in the next fortnight and

whatever we decide we will stick to that," Carr told At The Races.

"He needs to be fresh and the longest hurdle race away is Punchestown -

that's why he's not going to Aintree. Even though the race (at Cheltenham) took

nothing out of him, the travelling did."

Carr also revealed that Sublimity nearly took his chance in the Vincent

O'Brien County Hurdle at the Festival as he was so attractively weighted.

"I always fancy the easy option because it is better to have a winner but Mr

Hennessy (owner) always wanted to go for the Champion," said Carr.

"After he had run so well in the Supreme Novices' last year we were always

going to go for the Champion but if he had fallen at the first or something like

that he would have gone for the County.

"The form he was in that day, and the way he won, it would have taken a hell

of a horse to beat him.

"We hadn't much to make up on Straw Bear and he won the Fighting Fifth and

came back to win at Wincanton after he had been wrong, and he was well-fancied

all along.

"The only hard luck story in the race was Philip's (Hobbs) horse (Detroit

City). That obviously wasn't his running.

"I spoke to Philip the day after and he couldn't find anything wrong with

him. The rest just weren't good enough on the day."