WHILE Tony McCoy now looks sure to be back in action even sooner than forecast, the champion aiming to return a week or so before the Cheltenham Festival begins on March 11, fellow Irishman Barry Geraghty is set to deputise for him on Gold Cup can-didate Exotic Dancer this weekend.
The Jonjo O'Neill-trained chaser got closest so far to his nemesis Kauto Star the first time Geraghty took over from McCoy, going down by just half-a-length to the Paul Nicholls-trained champion in the Betfair Chase at Haydock.
He won't be meeting the reigning Gold Cup title-holder in the Letheby and Christopher Chase this Saturday, however, as Kauto Star is not being sent to Cheltenham for the race.
"I haven't spoken with Jonjo yet but I believe Barry Geraghty will be available. He's ridden him before, so he's very much in the frame," said Barry Simpson, racing manager to owner Sir Robert Ogden.
Simpson also revealed that Star De Mohaison, trained by Nicholls, would have an entry in this weekend's Cheltenham feature but would not run if the ground was testing. "It's a possibility we might have run him as well, but the ground is going to be pretty testing," Simpson continued.
"We will probably look for something else, but that doesn't mean we won't be entering him as well and seeing how the week goes. I've got to discuss it further with Paul but I suppose he's unlikely to run because of the ground unless something changes drastically in the week.
"He's got three other alternatives, the Aon Chase, the Irish Hennessy and the race at Wincanton that was the Countrymen's Chase. They would be the three probable alternatives if he didn't go next week."
Meanwhile, Nicholls yesterday reported all to be well with Twist Magic, his odds-on shot who was well beaten in the Victor Chandler Chase by Tamarinbleu at Ascot on Saturday. The trainer argues that the two-length defeat was down to the heavy ground at the Surrey track.
Nicholls believes it was a mistake to run his two-mile star in the race but is confident his six-year-old can erase that disappointment in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, for which he can now be backed at 9-4 with a variety of firms.
"He's come back fine and he obviously just got a bit tired in the ground," Nicholls said. "We'll go straight to Cheltenham with him now and hope the ground is better there.
"I thought I might be doing wrong yesterday and I was kicking myself last night. I was wishing I hadn't run him and I blame myself a bit.
"I was worried, as everyone knows, before the Tingle Creek. He won that on soft but the ground wasn't as bad as it was yesterday. It's never so bad down the back straight at Sandown, whereas it was a stiff track yesterday and he just didn't get home. He's a better horse on better ground and I've always tried to save him for that, that's what I'll do from now."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article