COCHET BACK ON GOLD CUP TRAIL

LONDON: Frenchman Jacques Ricou turned in a polished performance in the saddle to silence his British critics as Jair Du Cochet booked his ticket for a return trip to Cheltenham with a fine victory at the track yesterday in the Pillar Property Chase.

But whether the seven-year-old runs in the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup remains to be seen, with trainer Guillaume Macaire emphasising that his charge could yet take the alternative Festival option of the Cathcart Chase. In truth, Jair Du Cochet’s success here was possibly aided by the fall of favourite The real bandit, who was travelling strongly under Tony McCoy when making a mistake at the fourth-last fence and stumbling to the ground. Also never in the hunt was Sir Rembrandt, who ran a lifeless race before being pulled up with nearly a circuit of the race remaining. By that stage of the race, Ricou had already brought the 11-4 winner through to take up the lead. And although Truckers Tavern briefly took over six out, he weakened quickly two fences later and eventually unseated Tony Dobbin at the third-last.

With Valley Henry having also been pulled up by that point, suddenly only two of the six starters were still going. And despite Rince Ri — the outsider of the field at 14-1 — briefly looking as if he might be able to make a challenge, Ricou shook the reins at the leader, who pulled clear on the run to the final fence and won by an easy 12 lengths. Ricou’s riding style, the subject of so much debate in the run-up to this race as connections briefly toyed with replacing him, had never looked tidier. The Cheltenham crowd gave the rider a welcome and notably loud round of applause as he saluted them on his return to the winner’s enclosure.

Macaire’s relief at seeing his charge return to winning ways after a dreadful effort in the Pertemps King George VI Chase at Kempton last time out was evident. “I know my horse, I know my team,” he said. “It is a good result for the team, for me, for Jacques, for everybody.”  “It is not the same type of race at Kempton, not the same pace, not the same track. He was finished after two jumps that day. Today he was himself and I am very pleased. He likes this track and he always runs well here. In racing, there is only one judge and that is the winning post.” “He was ready to give his best today and his jumping was perfect.” But Macaire refused to commit his charge to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, despite bookmakers quoting Jair Du Cochet as short as 6-1. “We will see what we decide — time will tell,” he said. “I need to talk to the owner. We will be in Best Mate’s kingdom in the Gold Cup and I am not sure if we want to do that. The Cathcart is the other choice.”

Ricou admitted he had felt under pressure in the build-up to the race, which focused upon the possibility of him losing the ride. “Of course it was difficult,” he said. “I don’t want to lose my horse and I want to say thank you to Mr Macaire and Mr Montauban for sticking with me.” “It is easy to criticise a jockey. When a footballer doesn’t score a goal, everybody gets on his back, but that is life.” “He jumped better today and I took him into the lead because the pace was not fast enough for me. He made some little mistakes but he was better when he could go at his own speed.” “I do not train the horse, I am just the jockey. Mr Macaire is the best trainer in France and he will decide what is best for the horse now.”

Bookmakers’ reaction to the performance was mixed. William Hill slashed the price of Best Mate to just 1-2 in his bid to land the Cheltenham Gold Cup for the third year running and offer a best-priced 12-1 about Jair Du Cochet. The real bandit was reported none the worse for his tumble by owner David Johnson and remains ante-post favourite for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase. His participation in the Cheltenham Gold Cup may now be in some doubt, though connections have yet to decide on his Festival target. And with last year’s second Truckers Tavern well beaten and Jair Du Cochet being considered for another contest at the meeting, yesterday’s race served largely to enhance the hat-trick hopes of Best Mate.