Sounds like they are looking at the big handicaps further down the line which seems a little odd given that they avoided handicap hurdles races like the plague previously.
But they are looking to get him a handicap rating so would races like the Ebor (ground permiting) or the Northumberland Plate on Newcastle’s AW track (so ground not an issue) be possible options….especially if he doesn’t get a rating high enough to where he has to carry top weight in any of them.
Personally, I think he could be capable of winning a group race as there are plenty of weakly contested events at all group levels if you look around. The one thing that is ironic is that we will likely see more of him on the track in a flat campaign than we have ever seen him in any of his NH seasons (four runs being the maximum he ever managed there).