Road To Cheltenham: Gold Cup

The most interesting development in this division was the absence of Disko from the entries for the Unibet Irish Gold Cup. Although he was entered in both the Gold Cup and Ryanair last week, his name did not appear among the 22 horses engaged this week in that Leopardstown Grade One.

However, stablemate Road To Respect was listed among them – at first glance, seemingly a precaution for a horse said to be heading straight to the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Yet this is no longer so. "Or at least, that’s what I’m thinking anyway," trainer Noel Meade signed off, knowingly.

That was after he had told me: "Disko has had a little bit of a problem with his hock, so we had to stand him for a couple of weeks and were unable to train him for the Irish Gold Cup."

Asked whether it was the same problem that caused Disko to miss the King George, Meade said: "It was and it wasn’t. He went lame on me for a couple of days before the John Durkan and we thought it was his foot but nothing was identified.

"He then went back into work up on the run up to Christmas but Theresa Maguire [sister of ex-jockey Jason], who rides him all the time, said he wasn’t 100% right when going left-handed but he was fine when going right-handed. So we investigated and we found a problem with his hock."

Meade said he’s "hopeful" that he'll be able to train Disko for the Cheltenham Gold Cup but would know more after a week's progress. Failing that, the horse will head to Liverpool or Punchestown.

Although Gigginstown racing manager Eddie O'Leary had announced that Road To Respect would miss the Irish Gold Cup – "at a time when we thought Disko would go there" according to Meade – taking in that Leopardstown event is the new plan. The Christmas Chase winner worked at the track on Tuesday and is reported to be in "good order".

So rather than it being down to Disko to prove his Gold Cup credentials with the risk of being re-routed to the Ryanair as a result of any performance less than convincing next month, it is Road To Respect's Festival target that could be revisited. Meade says Gold Cup, if possible, for both his horses but he and we know that the O'Leary brothers have the final word – and the evidence on the track could well justify next month.

Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup - Sky Bet prices (non-runner/no bet)

3 Might Bite
5 Sizing John
8 Coney Island, Native River, Our Duke
10 Bar

Other Gigginstown Gold Cup possibles include the pair that chased home Road To Respect over Christmas, Balko Des Flos and Outlander, as well as Valseur Lido, Sub Lieutenant and Empire Of Dirt. All of these except the last named also hold Irish Gold Cup entries and the Henry de Bromhead-trained Balko Des Flos could yet be a significant player here or in the Ryanair.

Empire Of Dirt, you will recall, "is just a glorified handicapper" whose 2017 Grand National weight allotted by British Horseracing Authority Head Of Handicapping Phil Smith caused Michael O'Leary to remove him from the race, along with Don Poli and Outlander.

Having finished second in last term's Irish Gold Cup, Empire Of Dirt then never really travelled when fourth in last year's Ryanair and fared worse when pulled up in Aintree's Betway Bowl.

He hasn't been sighted since and holds only a Gold Cup entry – staged after the National weights are set for 2018 – so has there been a problem or this an O'Leary riposte? When alleging last year that his trio had not been "treated fairly", he did add: "It’s not like they have been minded and protected." What a shame for the sport of racing if indeed that was the conclusion.

Returning to the subject of u-turns on stated plans, the chances of favourite Might Biterunning again before the Gold Cup are reportedly increasing rapidly – from 90/10 against Newbury's Denman Chase when newly hitched trainer Nicky Henderson spoke to Nick Luck on Racing UK on New Year's Day, through to 60/40 when it was next discussed and now standing at 51/49 against.

Running a top-class horse in February? Throwing a novice into an open Grade One chase? They say marriage can change a man but this is ridiculous... Sadly for fans of actual sport, Henderson annexed his latest ratio to: "I’m sort of thinking the same [as for Altior, that is a racecourse gallop] for Might Bite." No need to check the groom's passport for distinguishing whorls then.

The only other worthwhile activity in this division last week was to reflect on the remaining Gold Cup entries from a total of 38. There were, as flagged, no major surprises with neither Thistlecrack nor Yorkhill declared.

Willie Mullins did nonetheless provide the most interesting food for thought when engaging both Killultagh Vic and Bachasson – alongside the more predictable stablemates, dual runner-up Djakadam and Ladbrokes Trophy winner Total Recall, as well as Acapella Bourgeois.

At his press morning, Mullins admitted to being "very disappointed" with Djakadam at Leopardstown last time where he pulled up after jumping poorly in the Grade One Christmas Chase.

"It was the worst run of his career," Mullins recognised. "We didn’t find anything wrong afterwards which has us questioning whether we just ran him back too quickly after the John Durkan.

"Plenty of horses have run in those two races and been just fine but both him and Sizing John disappointed when attempting it this season, so maybe it was a more gruelling race than we thought it was at the time."

That's one, perfectly valid way of looking at both those horses' seasonal debuts; another is to question whether either ran very well in the John Durkan also. A positive reading of it requires you to buy Sub Lieutenant suddenly bouncing back to form in third.

Whereas Djakadam heads to the Irish Gold Cup – "the thought at the moment" – before attempting to exactly replicate The Fellow’s Gold Cup sequence of 2-2-4-1, Sizing John will go straight to Cheltenham according to his trainer, Jessica Harrington. Unlike the defending champion, Djakadam is theoretically over-priced at 33/1 on the basis of one bad run – but he’s surely playing for a place (again) at best.

Mullins still clearly isn’t gagging to run Total Recall at Cheltenham. “He’s in the Irish Gold Cup and we’ll have a look at it, but I’m not sure whether he’ll run,” he said.

“I imagine the way to look at Total Recall is that he should go for the Aintree Grand National. I have to have a chat with the owners and get them to decide whether they want to aim for graded races with him or aim towards the National.”

Killultagh Vic, who returned with the scruffiest winning round of hurdling I've seen for a while at Punchestown on his first start for almost two years last month, has also been entered in the Ryanair. He was returning from a jolting injury sustained when still managing to win a Grade Two novice chase event in January 2016.

Good enough to have beaten a season-before-the-boil Thistlecrack in a Grade One novices' hurdle over three miles at the 2015 Punchestown Festival, this likeable horse is set to be chucked in deep for the Unibet Irish Gold Cup next time out. At least that’s “the plan at the minute”, replacing initial thoughts of the Kinloch Brae.

"He came out of his comeback very well," reported Mullins. "He just really doesn’t like jumping hurdles – he has no respect for them. We are looking forward to getting him back over fences and I think he’ll jump them much better."

The upping of the next-race ante with this horse suggests three things: he’s come on for his return (as Mullins says), the stable lacks a credible Gold Cup contender this year and the vibes are poor for Djakadam. I'd prefer Killultagh Vic at a shorter trip, however.

Bachasson was perhaps the most surprising of Mullins' inclusions, even though he's due a bump up in grade after two progressive performances this term. The only time he’s tried as far as three miles was when unseating at the last in the 2016 Albert Bartlett, while politely keeping on in a dispute for fifth about six lengths adrift of Unowhatimeanharry.

He's not the biggest and so may not be suited by either Cheltenham or Aintree's Melling Chase. With Elliott further ahead in the Irish trainers' championship this year than 12 months ago when it turned out such a close-run thing, Mullins wouldn’t need an excuse to hold Bachasson back for Punchestown. I suspect that would be the right thing to do, as it happens.

In other news, trainer Mark Bradstock says 2015 winner Coneygree – last seen pulling up in the Ladbrokes Trophy – has recovered quickly enough from his wind operation for Cheltenham’s Cotswold Chase or Newbury's Denman Chase to be realistic targets.

It was good to see Saphir Du Rheu entered, given last year's fifth was a career-best, but he hasn't been sighted since falling before halfway in last season's National. He was also briefly said to be the Gold Cup mount of Bryony Frost by owner Andy Stewart until Nicholls corrected the "misunderstanding" and stated Sam Twiston-Davies would keep the ride.

Other notable entries include National favourite Blaklion, whose early-season progress may have convinced connections to consider the Gold Cup en route to Aintree – after all, there are four weeks between the two events in 2018 – and Mala Beach, who won a Navan handicap off an Irish mark of 148 last November but hasn’t run since, suggesting Liverpool is also on his horizon (or else there’s been a problem).

The latter horse has about stone to find on an at-his-best Sizing John or Might Bite and trainer Elliott has made reference to his need for testing ground throughout his career. That raises doubts for either Cheltenham or Aintree.