Henrietta Knight has had a dilemma.

In Racing Demon, she trains one of the country's leading young steeplechasers at West Lockinge, near Wantage.

The seven-year-old's whole season has been geared towards this week's Cheltenham Festival.

But therein lay the dilemma - whether to run the gelding in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday or the Ryanair Chase over a shorter distance 24 hours earlier.

The temptation to go for gold - a prize Knight won three times with the late Best Mate - was huge and a month ago Racing Demon was targetted at chasing's blue riband run over three and a quarter miles.

But since then the country has been hit by torrential downpours.

Driving down the lane past Knight's schooling grounds to the picturesque West Lockinge yard last week, the road is awash and there is flooding in the neighbouring fields.

"I've had to get the man down three times this week to pump water out the yard which has come off the downs," Knight reports on my arrival.

This winter truly has produced weather more suited to ducks than horses.

Although this may have gone down well with Knight's many feathered friends who habitat the yard, it has been no help in training racehorses.

It's not just West Lockinge which has been hit by heavy rain, but also Cheltenham where conditions are expected to be testing.

And it's that which has prompted Knight and Racing Demon's Lincolnshire-based owners, Tim and Camilla Radford, to go for the Ryanair Chase over two miles and five furlongs.

"The decision is we are going on Thursday due to the ground because he has not tried over more than three miles before," explains Knight.

She reasons that Racing Demon has proved that his best trip is around two and a half miles - the distance at which he won the Peterborough Chase earlier this season and finished second in the 2005 Royal & SunAlliance Hurdle.

Referring to Timeform's black book, she reels off a string of ratings, which confirm that Racing Demon is one of the leading contenders in the Ryanair Chase.

"We would have a chance in the Ryanair to get in the unsaddling enclosure, but we may not in the Gold Cup," says Knight.

"I think he will be a Gold Cup horse, but he will be better next year. He is still slight and immature and some of those in the Gold Cup are big, powerful staying chasers.

"He is not a tank. He is more a lighter-framed type.

"We talked over the pros and cons and read what was been in the paper, and at the end of the day it seems more logical to go for the lesser distance.

"He is in very good spirits at the moment and has had a good build-up to the race. We just hope he does it on the day."

As for Racing Demon, he seems oblivious to all the fuss.

Returning from a photo-shoot in a nearby paddock, Knight reports him to be quite photogenic.

"He is very alert," she says. "He takes everything in. He is a very easy horse to get fit because he is very active.

"He is a very good feeder - he eats everything in front of him which is good, and he goes out in the field every day which he enjoys."

Knight and the Radfords also have Aztec Warrior in the Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase on Thursday.

"I think he would have a chance on that ground," says the trainer.

Driving away from West Lockinge, it's started raining again.

Maybe Knight has come up with the right answer to her Demon dilemma.