Saphir Du Rheu could start his season over hurdles in France

Owner Andy Stewart has raised the possibility of Saphir Du Rheu making his seasonal reappearance over hurdles at Auteuil.

After failing to complete on two of his first three starts over fences last season, the Paul Nicholls-trained six-year-old successfully reverted to the smaller obstacles in the second half of the campaign, winning the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham in January before chasing home Cole Harden in the World Hurdle back at Prestbury Park in March.

However, he looked every inch a potential Cheltenham Gold Cup contender when signing off for the season with a brilliant display back over fences in the Mildmay Novices' Chase at Aintree and although he may go hurdling on his comeback in France, Stewart is adamant chasing is his game.

He said: "There's a possibility we might take him to Auteuil to run over hurdles in a couple of weeks' time, but I need to talk to Paul about it.

"The French hurdles are obviously a little bit like the fences in Britain. I don't want to confuse him, but the prize-money in France is pretty amazing - you're talking about half a million euros.

"I wouldn't want to bottom him on very soft French ground first time out, so we'll just see what the ground is like nearer the time, but he'll certainly have an entry.

"I have seen he is in the betting for the World Hurdle, but there's absolutely no way he'll be going for that again. Even if he fluffs his lines back over fences, he'll be sticking to that route."

Saphir Du Rheu's principal early-season target is the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury, where he could clash with last season's Gold Cup hero Coneygree.

"Whether he goes to France or not, the plan is to aim for the Hennessy Gold Cup. I believe Coneygree is likely to head to Newbury, so he would carry top-weight," said Stewart.

"At the moment I would probably favour going straight to the Hennessy, then the King George and then give him a nice break before the Gold Cup, but I'll leave that to Mr Nicholls - he seems to know what he's doing.

"He was pretty impressive at Aintree and we think he's come on enormously over the summer and improved massively.

"I don't know whether it might be a year too soon, but I think there might be a Gold Cup in him."

Saphir Du Rheu may be Stewart's star turn for the new campaign, but he believes he has a strong supporting team with which to go to war, giving special mention to Sandown winner Sirabad.

"I think Sirabad, a horse I own with Jeremy Kyle, is probably the most exciting young horse we have at the moment," he said.

"The first time Sam Twiston-Davies rode him he said he couldn't breathe. Paul decided to run him again before giving him a breathing operation, I thought he was mad, but he still managed to win.

"He'll go novice chasing. The plan is to start off at the Paddy Power meeting at Cheltenham and we'll see whether he's good enough for either the JLT or the RSA Chase at the Festival next March."