King Of Dudes a chance for GN double

Monday 13 July 2015, 5:10pm

Dual purpose trainer Aaron Purcell is eyeing off a rare jumps double with King Of Dudes and a Cups campaign with St Jean.

Purcell will consider the Grand National Steeplechase at Ballarat for Sunday's GN Hurdle winner King Of Dudes who will have to gain his certificate for the larger obstacles in a trial at Cranbourne on Friday.

The Grand National Steeplechase is on Sunday week, the same day as the J J Houlahan Hurdle which is the other option for King Of Dudes.

"We'll just see in the next couple of days and make a decision," Purcell said.

The trainer's talented import St Jean is building up for a spring campaign having been off the scene since September last year.

A tendon problem ruled him out of the rest of last spring after a second-up win at Moonee Valley, but Purcell is hopeful he can get to the Cups this time around.

"He's been in work about four or five weeks and the injury he had last year seems fine," Purcell said.

"So we'll just build up his work now with the spring in mind.

"He just had a slight (tendon) strain and we stopped his preparation straight away.

"It's pretty right, but obviously being one of my better horses we've done everything we can to get it as good as we can get it and I'm confident this preparation he should stand up without any problems."

The Naturalism Stakes is a target, which carries a Caulfield Cup ballot exemption.

"If that's going to come too soon for him, there's a lot of other good races throughout the year that we'd be happy to win," Purcell said.

– AAP

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