Pandorama out of Hennessy but Cheltenham Gold Cup bid in the balance

Pandorama set-back may not be as bad as initially feared.

DESPITE FEARS THAT Pandorama will miss a Cheltenham Gold Cup shot at glory, Noel Meade remains optimistic.

The superb Lexus Chase chase winner was ruled out of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown yesterday after suffering a hock injury last week.

But this morning it seems that positive X-ray results have eased fears that long-term damage was incurred.

A Gold Cup tilt on March 18 is still very much on the cards.

“We think he’s bruised the inside of his hock but he’s walking sound, so we’ll rest up for a week and have a look at him on Monday,” Meade told the Guardian.

It’s quite possible that, in a week’s time, he’ll be perfect. If we only miss a week, we’ll be fine – we could probably miss two.

Beyond that, I don’t know. It is very much the plan. As long as it doesn’t come up fast ground, we want to run him.

“He was cast in his box on Thursday when he came in from doing a bit of work,” he added, “but he seemed OK on Friday and Saturday, and he trotted on Saturday.”