Neptune Collonges gate-crashes Argento Chase

Neptune Collonges

He might be a few shades lighter than when he finished third in a Cheltenham Gold Cup, but Neptune Collonges proved that he is not a light of former days.

The Grade Two Argento Chase at Cheltenham was meant to be the race that ushered Punchestowns into the reckoning for this year’s Gold Cup, with the possibility that the enigmatic Tidal Bay might produce the goods that he has often failed to fully deliver in the past couple of seasons.

However, it was the grey who gate-crashed the party. Tony McCoy followed the simple game plan of taking the lead from the start and, at halfway, the other four runners were all finding it hard work. Neptune Collonges was about six lengths clear of stable companion The Tother One and Punchestowns with Tidal Bay further back and Madison du Berlais looking unlikely to improve on his previous record of 0-7 at Cheltenham.

McCoy started to turn the screw and the pain was showing. Punchestowns had been one of the leading staying hurdlers before switching to fences but his stamina was giving before the home turn and it was Tidal Bay – who had looked out of it at the fourth-last – who made up ground down the home straight. However, the late show, just when the race is all but run, was again too late and he was one-and-a-quarter lengths adrift at the line with another 30 lengths to Punchestowns.

Neptune Collonges had been off for more than 18 months before Paul Nicholls brought him back for the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in November, when he was brought down at the fourth, and he missed the break at Cheltenham last month and never got into contention, but this race showed that he is still a contender.

The same may not apply to Punchestowns. His trainer, Nicky Henderson, has the option of dropping in trip for the Ryanair Chase or reverting to hurdles for the Ladbrokes World Hurdle while connections of Tidal Bay will return for a crack at the Gold Cup. But he gives the impression of a horse who might just find it all getting a bit too hot at the business end of that race.

The competitive fires are clearly burning brightly enough and Nicholls said: “I’m thrilled for the horse. It’s been a long road back – he was a bit unlucky in the Hennessy, when we thought he’d run ok. And then the last day, in a handicap, he missed the break but that didn’t really do him any harm. He had a good run round and blew the cobwebs out. It’s really good for [the owners] Mr and Mrs Hales because they’ve endured a rough old season and to get him back to win a nice race with him is good.”

Neptune Collonges has spent his career largely in the shadow of stable companions Kauto Star (to whom he finished fourth in the 2009 Gold Cup) and Denman (to whom he finished third in the 2008 Gold Cup) because, despite the flashy colour, he relies mainly on the old-fashioned virtues of jumping and front-running stamina and that formed the basis of the instructions that Nicholls gave to McCoy. “I just said to AP ‘every post a winning post and just keep galloping’.”

The victory left Nicholls with a happy dilemma as he had already entered Neptune Colllonges for the John Smith’s Grand National in the belief that recent form might push him down the weights a little. However, there is also the back-up of the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup. “If we’d got beat today, we might have got a bit of help from the handicapper. We still might – I don’t know – he’s got an entry for the National, he’s got an entry for the Gold Cup. With a horse like him, at his age, you’re grateful for race like today.”

After 10 runners - and as many losers - in the last five seasons at Cheltenham, Lincolnshire trainer Steve Gollings would have probably been grateful for any winner. What he got with Local Hero’s victory in the Grade Two JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial was a horse unbeaten in three runs over timber and every chance that McCoy – who has been in the saddle each time – will be keen to retain the ride next time, be it for the Fred Winter Handicap or Triumph Hurdle.

Certainly everything in the Gollings’ garden is looking a good shade of rosy.

Paul Wheeler

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