Howard Johnson remains hopeful Tidal Bay can emerge a realistic Gold Cup contender when he heads to Cheltenham for next month's Cotswold Chase.
The nine-year-old was a brilliant winner of the Arkle Trophy at the 2008 Festival, but his form has since been very much up and down, with connections switching him back to hurdles with some success in recent times.
He returned to larger obstacles on his latest start in the Betfair Chase at Haydock and showed he retains all of his old ability when beating all bar reigning Gold Cup hero Imperial Commander. Johnson is keen to keep Tidal Bay over fences for the time being, and believes his charge is now better suited to a stiffer test of stamina.
"He's fine at the moment and we're looking at the race at Cheltenham in January for him," said Johnson.
"He's difficult to catch right but I think he needs extreme distance nowadays. He ran well at Haydock but he could really have done with another couple of furlongs.
"We'll see how he gets on next time but if he runs well we could think about the Gold Cup, because the race would suit him well and he loves running up that hill."
Johnson admits the current cold snap is causing plenty of problems at his County Durham base and hopes a break in the weather arrives sooner rather than later.
"I can't see there being any racing in the north for the next fortnight," Johnson continued.
"I bet we have up to two foot of snow in some places here. You can't really work the gallops when there is this much snow on them as you'll end up making them worse rather than better.
"We're just keeping them going in the indoor school. Let's hope things improve soon, as they were just coming into a rich vein of form."
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