JONJO O’NEILL JR will ride Champ as the pair go on a fact-finding mission in Saturday’s Long Walk Hurdle.
Nicky Henderson’s star will revert to the smaller obstacles in Ascot’s Grade 1 in which he will also run antepost favourite Buzz and On The Blind Side.
Champ has not been seen since he was pulled-up in the Gold Cup and was forced to skip targets at Aintree and Haydock earlier this campaign.
He had surgery on his back in the off-season and Henderson has had to be patient with his nine-year-old. But the Lambourn handler is now ready to unleash his Festival winner named after AP McCoy.
Henderson said: “All three are going to run, that’s the plan. Jonjo O’Neill Jr will take the ride on Champ, Nico De Boinville will stay on Buzz and James Bowen will ride On The Blind Side.
“A lot will depend on whether Buzz stays the three miles, or not. The form of his last win got a nice boost at Cheltenham on Saturday when Nigel Twiston-Davies’ horse [Guard Your Dreams] won the International.
“You’d be hopeful he does stay given his form on the Flat and the way he races, but as always, you never know until the day.”
Buzz is the general 7-4 favourite for Saturday’s race after 11 were left in at Monday’s entry stage.
Thyme Hill is next in at 9-4, with Henderson’s Champ 5-1 and defending champion Paisley Park 8-1.
Henderson added: “I guess it’s a bit of a fact finding mission for Champ. But he’s in a lot better shape now, we’re a lot happier.
“Over fences he needs to go left-handed and going over hurdles meant we could come here. He’s got good hurdles form to his name already and we know he stays three miles very well.
“If he goes well on Saturday then it opens up a lot more options for us, we couldn’t say yet what the long-term plan will be with him.”
Newbury’s Long Distance Hurdle winner Thomas Darby was also left in the Ascot race on Monday and the bookies rate him a 8-1 chance.
His trainer Olly Murphy said: “We’ve always believed in this horse and thankfully he showed everyone at Newbury I wasn’t talking him up without reason.
“He’d been called plenty of names before that so hopefully we’re over that now.
“He’s come out of that race well and with these top stayers the races pick themselves, there are only so many days you can target.
“This race looks tougher than at Newbury, but we know where we stand and a couple have some questions still to answer.
“We’ll have to keep a good eye on the forecast and final field, but he’s definitely more likely to run than not.”
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