Dancer team hopeful of landing McCoy
McCoy was in the plate when John Joe O’Neill’s charge landed the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham while Tony Dobbin, who rides Monet’s Garden in the big race, did the steering as Exotic Dancer followed up over the same course and distance in the Boylesports Gold Cup.
“Tony will be at Kempton to ride Straw Bear,” confirmed Frank Berry, racing manager to owner JP McManus.
McManus does have two possibles in the Sunbury feature, Fota Island, trained by Mouse Morris, and L’Ami, trained by Francois Doumen in France.
However, as Fota Island has never been tried over a trip further than two and a half miles since 2002 and L’Ami has a more likely engagement in the Lexus Chase two days later in Ireland, there is a strong possibility McCoy could renew his partnership with Exotic Dancer.
“The situation is that if JP McManus doesn’t have a runner then Tony will ride him,” said Barry Simpson, racing manager to the gelding’s owner, Sir Robert Ogden.
“If they are using him then obviously we will look for another jockey, but at this moment in time I have no-one in mind.
“If Tony is available we will be thrilled, but if he isn’t we will have to work round it and look for a suitable substitute.
“He’s certainly an interesting horse. He is up to 160 now and whether that is right I don’t know, but he still has some way to go before he catches up with the very best.
“It puts him on a par with Racing Demon though and we go there with a realistic chance of finishing in the frame and that is how we are looking at it.
“Handicaps are virtually out so it is up to the horse now. It was a fantastic achievement to win both handicaps and he did it so easily in both.
“He has a smart turn of foot which is in his favour. He needs to be able to stay with the likes of Monet’s Garden and Kauto Star and if he is still with them at the second-last then he has a great chance. It’s going to be a fascinating contest and we’ll just savour the moment. We went very close with Marlborough in 2002 when Best Mate just beat him, but we have to look forward now and not back.”
Kauto Star remains a very hot favourite, with owner Clive Smith admitting to a few nerves.
“He’s certainly a good chaser and let’s hope that he can justify all these very nice appraisals of him recently.
It’s all very nerve-wracking really, but I’m obviously very hopeful,” he said.
“I just don’t want to see him get injured and I don’t mind a good race - let’s just have a very good race and see all the horses run well and we’ll hope we might come out on top.
“Like Tiger Woods, every time he starts you sort of expect him to win and perhaps he should win because he’s the best, but I’ll just keep my fingers crossed and hope nothing goes wrong.”
