Pride of Dulcote ready for Cheltenham exam

Pride of Dulcote

The search for the next Irish-trained winner of the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup may not bear much fruit this weekend.

The Grade One Hennessy Gold Cup, run at Leopardstown on Sunday, has seven home runners none of whom make more than a feint blip on the radar of the market for Cheltenham yet the one who figures most prominently of the three British-trained entries comes to the race with the thinnest record over fences of the 10 runners.

Pride of Dulcote’s CV extends to just two races, a novice chase at Worcester and a graduation race at Newbury. They were separated by 14 months due to a leg injury and now Paul Nicholls has set his horse the stiffest of examinations to judge whether he should take his place at Cheltenham alongside the likes of stable companions Kauto Star and Denman.

Nicholls admits that his hand has been slightly forced by circumstances to take what is a bold approach with a horse who has jumped just 36 fences in competitive action. “Because he had problems he was late coming in. It was either go for a graduation chase at Exeter next week or go for a good race that was worth an awful lot of money,” Nicholls said. “I think Leopardstown will suit him and, if we’ve got any pretensions to running him in the Gold Cup, we’ve got to run well in a Grade One so we thought we’d take our chance.”

Pride of Dulcote, was a top staying novice hurdler, beaten just a half-length by Weapon's Amnesty in the 2009 Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival, and won both of those starts over fences. The second, when he beat Punchestowns by a head, and even though that form was a little downgraded, by the poor showing of the runner-up at Cheltenham last Saturday, Nicholls believes that his horse has more to show. “We were surprised he won that day because I didn’t think he was really ready,” he said. “But just to jump round and beat Punchestowns was good and I think he’ll improve enormously on that run. He’ll be a lot fitter and a lot sharper but what level he’ll end up at I don’t know. He had some good form as a novice hurdler but we’ll see on Sunday.

Nicholls, who rode Playschool to win this race 23 years ago, believes that the stamina-intensive nature of the course at Leopardstown will play to his horse’s strengths. “In the three-mile hurdle at the Festival two years ago, when he was beaten by Weapons Amnesty, he made a mistake at the last but galloped all the way up the hill,” Nicholls pointed out. “He is a true stayer and I think it’ll be good for him.”

There are nine other horses in the field led by Joncol - who will be attempting back-to-back victories in the race - last year's second Cooldine, the Nicky Richards-trained Money Trix - second over course and distance in the Lexus Chase - and The Listener, who won the race in 2008.

“They’re all good horses aren’t they?” Nicholls said. “He’s the young pretender and he has to raise his game to compete against them.”

Nick Scholfield may be some way from being the young pretender to Ruby Walsh, looking to be back by the end of the month after three months out with a broken leg, as stable jockey but Nicholls is happy to give the rider his chance on a horse that Scholfield knows well. “He’s riding really well. He won on him over hurdles and he won on him at Newbury so there was never any doubt about him not riding,” Nicholls said, adding of Walsh “he’s hoping to ride towards the end of February or early March. There isn’t any great target for him before then - just get himself fit for Cheltenham.”

The meeting at Leopardstown is usually the best barometer of the Irish challenge for the Cheltenham Festival and the other Grade One race over fences, the Dr PJ Moriarty Novice Chase, should determine whether Mikael d'Haguenet is still a realistic prospect for major honours.

Zaidpour and Hidden Universe will face each other for the first time in Grade One Deloitte Novices’ Hurdle while could become the buzz horse for the JCB Triumph Hurdle if he steps up to Grade One level in the Tote Pick Six Rollover Spring Juvenile Hurdle.

Paul Wheeler

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