Richard Johnson is unlikely to know until Thursday morning as to whether or not he can ride Coneygree in the Betfair Chase at Haydock.
Britain’s champion jockey schooled the 2015 Gold Cup on Tuesday morning and is trainer Mark Bradstock's first choice for the plum mount on Saturday.
But Philip Hobbs, to whom Johnson is stable jockey, has Menorah engaged in the same race, while he also has a clutch of big names entered at Ascot on the same day.
The Minehead handler told the Daily Mail: "It will be a Thursday morning decision - the 48-hour declaration stage for the Betfair Chase.
"We won't know until then. It depends on the weather."
Aidan Coleman is delighted to be on standby should Johnson be unable to take the ride on Coneygree.
"It's all down to Richard. We'll have to see what he does. I'm just delighted to be in the mix," he told At The Races.
"We'll just have to see what Richard does. If something comes of it, brilliant. If not, well I'm very happy to be in that situation. We'll just have to see how the weekend unfolds."
Coleman has been in a rich vein of form of late, winning the BetVictor Gold Cup on Taquin Du Seuil at Cheltenham last Saturday.
