HARRY Fry has decided to bypass today’s Check Out The All New freebets.co.uk Novices’ Chase at Doncaster with Rock On Ruby.

The Seaborough handler felt the two-mile-three- furlong trip on softish ground may just stretch Rock On Ruby’s stamina but he will still have his next race at Doncaster in the Grade Two Racing Post Lightning Novices’ Chase on January 25.

“He’ll go straight to the Lightning in two and a half weeks,” said Fry.

“I was just slightly unsure about the trip for him on softish ground. I know its not as soft as everywhere else, but I wasn’t keen on running him over two-three on it.”

Fry will still be represented in the race by Karinga Dancer, who won over the same course and distance on his chasing debut in December.

“He’s a course-and-distance winner and has a very similar profile to Ruby in that he needs to take another step up the ladder now,” said Fry.

“His jumping warmed up as they went quicker last time and he’s done lots of schooling since.

“We’ve always seen him as a two-and-a-half-miler, although we dropped him back to two over hurdles earlier in the season. I’m sure he’ll get further in time also.

“If everything goes well, and we are taking it one step at a time, I think he’s more of an Aintree horse than a Cheltenham one.”

Karinga Dancer faces four rivals including David Pipe’s Western Warhorse, Keith Reveley’s Victor Hewgo, the Evan Williams-trained My Dads Horse and Steve Gollings’ Walkabout Creek.