Gordon Elliott’s promising novice chaser Imagine could head across the Irish Sea for a Grade 1 start at Kempton on December 26th.

The five-year-old began his chasing career this season, starting out at Fairyhouse in a beginners event he won by a comfortable two and a half lengths.

He then stepped up in class at Punchestown late last month to contest the Grade 2 Craddockstown Novice Chase.

Under Jack Kennedy, Imagine was required to dig deeper than on debut but he did so to come home the winner when crossing the line half a length ahead of John Ryan’s Lucid Dreams.

A step up in trip is now afoot and so too is a step up in grade, as the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on December 26th is pencilled into his diary – a Grade 1 event run over an extended three miles.

Alternatively, Imagine holds two entries at Leopardstown’s festive meeting, over two miles and a furlong in the Racing Post Novice Chase and over three miles and half a furlong in the Neville Hotels Novice Chase – both Grade 1s.

He is also in Limerick’s Guinness Faugheen Novice Chase over nearly two and a half miles.

Imagine is owned by Andy and Gemma Brown of Caldwell Construction, whose racing manager Joey Logan said of the gelding: “We’re very happy with him, to be honest.

“He stepped up from his beginners in Fairyhouse and won the Grade 2 and we were very happy with that.

“He wants further really, two miles is a bit short and we’re hoping we might step him up at Christmas time.

“I think the further he goes, the better he’ll be. We’re looking at the Grade 1 at Kempton, that’s a possibility.

“He’ll have an entry and we’ll sit down with Gordon to discuss. If not, it’ll be Leopardstown but that’s what we’re thinking of at the moment.”