Exotic Dancer will bypass the Letheby & Christopher Chase at Cheltenham on Saturday and wait for the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown two weeks later.

The nine-year-old, trained by Jonjo O'Neill, is to return to the track where he was triumphant in the Lexus Chase over Christmas.

"We've decided we will not run Exotic Dancer at Cheltenham on Saturday. We will stick to our original plan of going to the Irish Hennessy," said Barry Simpson, racing manager to owner Sir Robert Ogden.

"I've said all along providing the ground is decent Star De Mohaison will represent us at Cheltenham, but we did want to cover the situation.

"I've chatted with Jonjo this morning. If he's going to run on Saturday he has to do a piece of work tomorrow. We don't want to do that if we don't have to. The plan is to carry on and go for the Irish Hennessy."

Simpson reported that Star De Mohaison, trained by Ditcheat handler Paul Nicholls, would run at Cheltenham as long as the ground was not too demanding.

Colin Tizzard reports Joe Lively a starter for the Grade Two heat, registered as the Cotswold Chase.

The 10-year-old has won three times at Prestbury Park and emerged with plenty of credit when sixth in the Welsh National, having endured an unsatisfactory build-up to the Chepstow marathon.

"He's far sharper than he was at Chepstow," said Dorset-based Tizzard.

"We knew he had a bit of a setback after he won at Cheltenham as a cut leg put him back a few weeks.

"He ran well in the Welsh National, but he's in a lot better form now.

"We could do with 2mm of rain before the race as that would suit him down to the ground. We thought that he used to like running on good ground but as he's got older, it has gone the other way.

"The classier and speedier horses might not like a real slog and that's when our horse will come into his own."