LUNCH, it appears, has been a straightforward decision for Mark Bradstock, trainer of big Cheltenham Festival hope Coneygree.

“I’m just making an omelette,” he announces enthusiastically as I arrive at the Old Manor Stables at Letcombe Bassett, near Wantage.

However, Bradstock has a much trickier decision to make with Coneygree – whether to run the exciting eight-year-old in the RSA Chase on Wednesday or the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday.

And he knows he must put all his eggs in one basket tomorrow when the final declarations for the former event are made.

As a novices’ race, the RSA Chase, for which Coneygree is the 5-1 third favourite, is the traditional port of call for a horse of his experience.

But having capped three straight wins this term by beating seasoned campaigners in the Betfair Denman Chase at Newbury in such impressive fashion last month, a crack at the Gold Cup has become a massive temptation for his connections, with the bookmakers making him a 12-1 chance.

“The decision will be made on Tuesday,” says Bradstock as he sits down to eat.

“It is a very difficult one because whatever we do people are going to criticise judging on the emails we have received.”

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Bradstock, his wife, Sara, and the ten-strong Max Partnership, headed by Lady Chicky Oaksey, widow of Lord Oaksey, who bred Coneygree, will weigh up all the factors before revealing their target.

Bradstock continues to wrestle with the dilemma.

“In the RSA they tend to go absolutely flat to the boards, and likewise with the Gold Cup you have some very decent horses in there,” he says.

“One would like to see rain, but I do think he is going to be less inconvenienced by good ground than some of the others.

“I think his hurdle race was on pretty good ground at Uttoxeter, but we certainly would not run him in either race on fast ground.”

Bradstock does feel, though, his stable star’s front-running style and slick jumping will stand him in good stead in whichever race he runs.

“I remember at Kempton in the parade ring Nico (de Boinville, jockey) came in and said four other horses want to making the running, but he soon blew them away,” he adds.

“He is very deceptive. He has a very high cruising speed and even in his last race at Newbury when they all came to him at the cross fence, he almost seemed to go up a gear, and obviously his jumping is a big advantage.”

Captain Christy was the last novice to win the Gold Cup in 1974, while Gloria Victis’s attempt ended in tragedy 15 years ago.

But Bradstock believes the age of his charge – nicknamed Max – is an advantage. “Everyone harps on that you have got to go back to whenever for the last novice to win the Gold Cup, but not that many novices have tried,” he reasons.

“And then they hark on about Gloria Victis, but he was only a six-year-old and Coneygree is an eight-year-old and I do think that makes a hell of a lot of a difference.”

Meanwhile, Coneygree, fresh from a morning out at Lambourn, is in his stable, seemingly unaware of what all the fuss is about.

As a security measure, Bradstock has taken to sleeping outside his box in a caravan – much to the amusement of his wife.

“I think Max biting an intruder is much more of a deterrent than Mark,” Sara laughs of their stable star, who apparently is not averse to making a meal of his own when it comes to unwanted attention.