GM23 – One thing that is to his advantage is that it is only his 2nd run of the season and they obviously had to back off him when he got injured and missed his intended comeback in the John Durkan at the start of the season.
To me his comeback run (until fitness found him out going to the last) suggests that he is no back number and I also think his Gold Cup run last season was a fair bit below his very best as from some way out he looked…….out of sorts and Townend quickly accepted things and was easy on him from the last. I felt it was a mistake to then go for the Punchestown Gold Cup after that, as in previous years when he had won the Gold Cup he always seemed to underperform when going on to that race but last season he was spectacular and ran them all stupid.
I think the race may very well tell us much more as to where he’s at now, as he will be properly race fit and the ground looks like it will be more in his favour and probably against some of the others. Nothing has convinced me (yet) that he isn’t still the best staying chaser in Ireland.