Connections were pleased with the performance of Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices’ Chase second Colonel Harry and will take their time before deciding the next move.

Trainer Jamie Snowden has enjoyed an excellent few weeks of Saturday success, topped by Datsalrightgino's victory in the Coral Gold Cup, and star novice Colonel Harry continued the trend when chasing home Le Patron at Saturday.

The gelding made an eye-catching start to his novice chasing career when taking a three-runner novice handicap chase at Chepstow in attritional conditions in early November and lost nothing in defeat in the Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices' Chase on Saturday.

"He was very enthusiastic and made a mistake and almost knuckled over at the first fence, which put him from a prominent position to towards the back of the pack.

"He was kind of playing catch up from there and almost caught up in the end, but it just wasn't quite far enough at the end of the day, having made that mistake early on, which probably proved costly.

"It was a decent performance, a career-best and there's plenty more to come from him.

"We've got options, depending on what the handicapper does and what we're thinking nearer the time.

"I appreciate that he's going to improve when we go up in trip. He's settling better in his races now, but he will get further in time, so the question is when do we go up in trip?

"Had he won that race on Saturday we wouldn't be contemplating going up in trip right at this moment, but it's certainly something he will do at some point."