Whiteoak could make her seasonal reappearance in the totesport Trophy at Newbury on February 7th.

Donald McCain's charge, winner of the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, has yet to set foot on a racetrack this season.

The recent cold-snap has further frustrated her handler's attempts to get her back in action.

"She's ok, she's back cantering now, but we had a huge amount of frost last week so we have just struggled to get work into them. She's cantering away again now and she's in really good order," the trainer told sportinglife.com.

"We are not sure where she is going to return to be totally honest. It depends how quickly she comes to hand seeing as she missed a bit of work last week.

"I've been having a look through the programme book and I wouldn't have thought her comeback will be before the end of this month.

"It'll probably be in the first or second week of February. It could possibly be in the totesport Trophy at Newbury or even the Kingwell at Wincanton the week after. Wherever we go it will be to get her ready for Cheltenham."

A defence of her Festival crown is the aim for the season - although a crack at hurdling's big guns at Aintree is also on the cards.

"If all goes well at Cheltenham we'll go to Aintree to hopefully take on the good horses over two-and-a-half miles in the Aintree Hurdle," McCain confirmed.

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