O’Loughlin weighing up Windsor for Jeannot Lapin

A piece of work on Saturday could prove key to deciding if Jeannot Lapin heads to Windsor next week, with the Irish raider currently deemed “50-50” for a shot at the Fitzdares Lightning Novices’ Chase.

A shock 150-1 debut winner of a hot beginners’ chase at Leopardstown over the Christmas period, trainer Gearoid O’Loughlin now has the exciting task of searching for an opportunity in deeper waters for the strapping six-year-old, who measures at over 18 hands.

“He seems in good old form and he’s going to do a little bit of work on Saturday and that will kind of define if we are going to Windsor or not,” said O’Loughlin.

“Initially, we thought the ground may have been nicer, so that has thrown a little spanner in the works and then the entries came out for the Irish Arkle and we were thinking there might be a few more entries for the race and there’s only nine entered and it could cut down to five or six.

“We’re 50-50 to go to Windsor, but we will be prepared to go.”

Instead, the County Meath handler has placed a bullseye on Navan’s Flyingbolt Novice Chase on March 1, which could lead to a trip to Liverpool for the Grand National meeting later in the spring.

“We’re not putting Cheltenham in the picture, so if he runs at Windsor it works for us and if he runs in the Irish Arkle it works for us, because I’m working back from the Grade Three Flyingbolt Novice at Navan,” continued O’Loughlin.

“I’m not too panicky where we go, it will work either way, and he’s just so big I want to mind him.

“Speaking hypothetically, if he gets close to one of the nice horses and continues to do well, we would be putting Aintree on the cards rather than Cheltenham.”

Owned by Dominic Jones, Jeannot Lapin was remarkably purchased for just £3,000 having failed to make his mark in the pointing field.

O’Loughlin added: “Sometimes you have to think around the box. It’s a good story and he looks to be a little different. He could be a bit of a freak, but he has a pedigree to back him up and he just has size.

“To be fair to the man I bought him off at the sales, he wouldn’t have been an easy horse to train for point-to-points. We measured him and he’s 18 hands and a little bit more along with it, so I couldn’t imagine he would have been easy to train.

“There was only one point-to-point winner by Doctor Dino in Ireland last year and I got sick of listening to lads giving out about Doctor Dino and how his don’t stay in point-to-points – that’s how I came up with the idea of buying him.”